Australia’s opening gamble: Is Sam Konstas ready for Test cricket?

by Admin
October 30, 2024

Is Sam Konstas ready to play Test cricket? Time will tell and he will get his chance to add to his case against India A in the next two weeks.

But if the 19-year-old were to be picked for the opening Test against India, he would be an unprecedented selection in modern Australian cricket.

Even if he plays both matches against India A, picking an Australian batter who has played fewer than ten first-class games before making their Test debut is almost unheard of in the last 35 years. Not Ricky Ponting, not Steven Smith, not David Warner, not Cameron Green, and not even the late Phillip Hughes had so little experience when given a Baggy Green for the first time.

The comparisons between Ponting and Konstas have been prevalent since the latter became the third youngest behind Ponting to score twin centuries in a Sheffield Shield game earlier this month. But beyond both achieving the feat as teenagers, the comparisons end there for the time being.

Ponting achieved the feat as an 18-year-old in March 1993 but he did not play Test cricket until just prior to his 21st birthday in December 1995. Ponting’s accumulated experience by the time he was picked to play Test cricket makes him look like a veteran compared to Konstas. He had played 42 first-class matches and scored 12 first-class centuries, averaging 51.23. He had toured with Australia and played six ODIs in 1995 in New Zealand and the Caribbean. He had also played for Australia A in front of ODI-type crowds in the often-recalled 1994-95 summer.

Konstas has only played three of his six first-class matches on Test grounds and is yet to reach 50 at a Test venue. He doesn’t yet have 500 first-class runs. If Alex Carey had held a very straightforward edge that Konstas offered on 0 in the second innings against South Australia, he might not even have 400.

New South Wales coach Greg Shipperd is in a rare position to comment on whether Konstas is ready by comparison to Ponting, given he also coached the former Australian captain when he scored those twin centuries for Tasmania. Shipperd was asked last week whether Konstas would benefit from being made to wait like Ponting was.

“I’m not sure. That’s a very good question, though,” he said. “Yes, he was made to wait. So whether that made him or he was already made anyway, because he was scoring multiple hundreds across the course of that journey between him not being selected and then finally selected, I think at around 21.

“But Sam, I do see a lot of that skill level and that poise at the crease, shots on both sides of the wicket, in front of the wicket, behind the wicket. I think he’s got what it takes. And again, Ricky was trying to break into a super Australian side at that moment with probably no gaps. But there is a gap in the Australian team in the position Sam bats in at the moment.”

Shipperd’s opinion should carry weight. But it is worth noting that Australia’s team in 1993 was not quite as settled or as strong as suggested.

In early 1993, Australia lost a home five-Test series to the West Indies and then drew a series in New Zealand while Ponting made those twin tons for Tasmania. The top order had been shuffled around significantly. Dean Jones was dropped in late 1992 and did not play again. Damien Martyn, 21 at the time, and Justin Langer, 22, made their Test debuts in 1992-93.