“Pat, Andrew and Steven Smith have been having ongoing conversations separate to the untimely injury to Cameron anyway, and Steve had expressed a desire to move back down from that opening position,” Bailey said last week. “Pat and Andrew have confirmed he’ll be dropping back down the order for the summer. Clearly we’ve got a number four spot to fill and an opening spot to fill.”

Selector Tony Dodemaide was joined at the MCG on Monday by Australia’s head coach McDonald for a close look at teenager Sam Konstas, senior pro Smith, and their seam bowling opponents Scott Boland and Fergus O’Neill.

After NSW were bowled out for 136, Mitchell Starc’s speed and hostility reduced Victoria to 4-32, a hole from which they recovered to 4-90 by stumps, a lead of 226 overall.

Starc’s wobble seam delivery to Ash Chandrasinghe bit back like a viper to send the bails flying, before Campbell Kellaway was beaten by pace and Test opening contender Marcus Harris by bounce, gloving down the leg side for the second time in the game.

Konstas and Harris, a tyro and a seasoned campaigner, are the two clearest contenders should the selectors choose to pick a specialist opener to fill the spot vacated by the injured Green. But nether have advanced their claims particularly far on an MCG pitch that has aided seam.

Loading

After this game, both Konstas and Harris will turn out for Australia A in a game against India A in Mackay. It’s a fixture that is assuming more vital proportions with each innings that passes, without one candidate putting space between themselves and the rest.

For Konstas, the day-two audition was startlingly short. His first ball from Boland beat the edge and shaved narrowly past the off stump, almost as if to say “welcome to the big time, Sam”. Another delivery was edged short of the slips cordon.

Boland then arrowed in on Konstas’ front pad and the stumps on his favourite MCG hunting ground, and won an lbw verdict when the 19-year-old had made just two from 10 balls, propping forward a little like his mentor Shane Watson once did.

Instinctively, Konstas gestured with his glove that the ball may have been veering past leg stump, and replays indicated that was undoubtedly plausible. Boland, angling in and seaming further, is a past master of finding the pads in front of the stumps.

“He got a bit unlucky there I reckon, looked like it might’ve been darting down leg a little bit,” Smith said of Konstas. “I would’ve liked to see a bit more of him in the middle, but what I have seen is he’s got a lot of time, he’s very organised … he’s a bright prospect.”

Smith clipped his first ball from Boland through mid-wicket with ease, but there was very little comfort in the rest of his stay. It was O’Neill, hitting a handkerchief around the off stump, who posed most problems, and Smith faced 28 consecutive dot balls on the way to a glove down the leg side and a brisk march off the field.

Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.