Duly encouraged, Jim would take Sam to the nets and proceed to hurl balls at him for hours until his brother Johnny would turn up “after watching Scooby Doo” and ask for the same length of hit.

Jim also revealed that Sam had a diary from the age of 12, in which he set out goals to play first for St George, then for New South Wales, and then finally for Australia.

In those days, and for quite a few afterwards, Konstas’ batting was very orthodox in method, building fundamentals that seasoned watchers have noted as equally important to the bold ramp shots, lofted drives, and down-the-wicket pull shots he unleashed on the first morning.

Jasprit Bumrah, who Konstas took down so effectively with calculated risks, spoke on the third morning of how he wanted to resume the battle. Pointedly, Bumrah suggested that the method used on day one would not always succeed.

“I have experienced heaps of it in T20 cricket. An interesting batsman,” Bumrah told Seven. “I always felt I was in the game. I never felt I was far away from a wicket. Initially I felt I could have got him out six or seven times in the first two overs.

“That’s how cricket goes. Some days it pays off and it looks good. Some days it doesn’t, and you guys might be criticising the same person. I love different challenges.”

Watching that confrontation, Jim confessed that he felt the import of watching Sam in Australia’s greatest sporting colosseum. “I felt,” he told Baird, “like he was a little Gladiator.”

Sam Konstas’ readiness for that battle, Jim felt, came in part from playing cricket against men from a young age. That experience had moulded Sam both as a cricketer and a person.

While Tahmid has worked on Konstas’ batting method for five years, Shane Watson has added vital assistance in terms of the game’s mental side.

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“All the work he’s done has been working through being able to create this bulletproof cocoon around him, so all he has to do is repeat what he has to do, ball after ball,” Watson has explained.

“The mental skill of this is how we bring the best version of ourselves to the fore and most importantly when the pressure is right on, when the scrutiny is on, that’s where these skills come to the fore.”

Nevertheless, he is still a teenager. On the morning of day three of the Boxing Day Test, Sam came to greet his parents with a kiss, then cheekily passed his laundry bag to Mum, before going to sit and eat with skipper Pat Cummins.

A combination of Nitish Kumar Reddy’s brilliant rearguard and building showers in the afternoon ensured that Konstas would not get to bat on day three. That eventuality was undoubtedly a disappointment for another huge crowd: 83,073 to take the total for the game to 255,462.

But one thing is already clear for Konstas and his circle: A supernova debut has ensured that there will be plenty more opportunities for him to shine on cricket’s biggest stages. Hopefully, too, there will be plenty more big family dinners to reflect on those achievements.

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