Sam Konstas’ short, sometimes thrilling, always scrutinised Test career is on hold again. The 20-year-old opener was left out of Australia’s squad for the opening Ashes Test after a quiet start to the Sheffield Shield summer – one half-century in six innings following a difficult tour of the West Indies, where he managed just 50 runs across six knocks.
Chair of selectors George Bailey says the decision was far from easy, and that the external noise around the youngster is out of proportion to his experience. “I feel for Sammy [Konstas] because at the moment, if he farts, it’s a headline,” Bailey admitted when the squad was announced in Hobart on Tuesday.
Bailey and his panel believe Konstas remains a long-term prospect. “We really like him… he’s been in and around the Boxing Day Test, he’s been on subcontinent tours, [and] he’s been on Aussie A tours. So we like the skillset, and [are] confident over the long run, it will continue to build out. It’s not going to be linear – no one’s passage through their career is linear – [but] the message is just to keep it simple: score runs and bat for as long as he can for New South Wales.”
Those Shield runs simply have not flowed since the domestic season began. Konstas looked poised when he made 113 for Australia A in Bangalore in September, yet has since struggled for rhythm on greener home surfaces. Bailey noted that the youngster “remains incredibly upbeat. The scrutiny on him is almost unprecedented on some levels.”
Steve Waugh knows that feeling. The former captain, who debuted at 20 and waited 26 Tests for his first hundred, was standing alongside the Waterford Crystal Ashes trophy when asked about Konstas. “I feel a little bit sorry for Sam Konstas,” Waugh said with a rueful smile. “He’s been in and out of the side a bit, and it actually reminds me a bit of myself when I first started playing for Australia. Not fully confident of being in the side, and up and down, and form not quite there. So he’s probably lacking a bit of confidence.”
Waugh’s own path was anything but smooth. After that maiden century at Headingley in 1989 he still found himself dropped 18 months later, replaced by younger brother Mark. The lesson, he believes, is that early setbacks rarely define a career. “[My advice to Konstas would be] not to listen to everybody. Just trust one or two people around you. Go back to basics. At the end of the day, it’s really hard to learn how to play Test cricket while you’re playing Test cricket, and that’s what happened to me for a few years. I wasn’t really that finished product. I’d go back to Shield cricket, try and build some long innings, bat for as long as you can, and just get to know your game really well. And then [when] you walk out to play for Australia, you’re confident in what you’re doing.”
Selectors have asked Konstas to do precisely that. With Travis Head returning from injury, the Ashes top order appears settled: David Warner, Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne remain the preferred first three, while Cameron Green’s middle-order runs for Western Australia pushed his name to the front of the reserves queue. That left no realistic room for an out-of-form Konstas.
The panel’s view is that Shield cricket is still the ideal finishing school. Bailey pointed out that “there’s a handful of young guys his age playing Shield cricket around the country, and they are all learning and are all going through the journey of becoming the best cricketer they can be, and Sammy is no different – he just happens to be doing it under immense scrutiny.” The numbers support that argument. Across the competition this season, only three openers under 23 average above 35, and all have played at least 20 more first-class innings than Konstas.
New South Wales coach Phil Jaques has already pencilled Konstas in for the next Shield match at the SCG, and expects the right-hander to embrace a simpler approach. “He was at his best last year when he just parked on off stump and let the ball come to him,” Jaques said on local radio, before adding a note of realism: “Early-season wickets are tricky, no matter who you are.”
Konstas himself did not speak publicly on selection day, preferring a quiet net at Drummoyne Oval. Team-mates reported he middled plenty, though all concerned know the only currency that counts now is runs in first-class cricket – preferably big, series-turning ones. The good news is that New South Wales have six Shield fixtures before the third Test; a string of scores could yet see him tour England next winter, especially given the national set-up’s investment in his game against the moving ball.
There is also the matter of confidence. Batting coach Michael Di Venuto, who worked with Waugh towards the end of the latter’s career, says the mental side is every bit as important as technique. “You can see certain players tighten when they feel one low score means the end,” Di Venuto told ABC Grandstand. “The great ones find a way to trust their method regardless of what’s written.”
Konstas’ method – still more front-foot than many modern openers – thrived on quicker Indian pitches in September. Domestic attack leaders believe it will translate to home success once he adjusts to a slightly fuller length used by Shield bowlers. Western Australia seamer Lance Morris, fresh from knocking over Konstas for 12 in Perth, reckons “he’s only a tiny tweak away. He’s got time at the crease; you can feel it when you bowl to him.”
For now, however, Australia will start their Ashes defence without him, hopeful that he can pile up Shield runs and force an inevitable recall. Bailey insists the door will stay open. “We’ve told him exactly what he needs to do: make runs, bat long, enjoy his cricket,” the selector said. “If he does that, the rest looks after itself.”
That approach chimes with Waugh, who finished his Test career with 32 centuries and an average north of 50 despite early struggles. “Sometimes,” the former captain reflected, “being dropped is the best thing that can happen. You discover how much it means and you build the game that will last you a decade.”
Konstas would probably settle for that. First, though, he needs a few quiet weeks, a return to batting’s simple truths, and a scoreboard that stops others talking for him.
