Australia's opening gamble: Is Sam Konstas ready for Test cricket?
It would be an unprecedented gamble in modern Australian cricket if the 19-year-old, with less than ten first-class games, were to be picked so soon
Alex Malcolm30-Oct-20241:00
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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.Related
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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.Mark Waugh, then 27, was dropped in March of 1993 after averaging just 33.21 across his first 21 Tests. The Waugh twins turned 28 prior to the first Ashes Test in June 1993, with Steve averaging 36.27 at the time after 52 Tests. But both were selected ahead of Martyn in England while Langer and the prodigy Ponting did not even make the tour.Further opportunities came in Australia’s middle order following the retirement of Allan Border in 1994. Michael Bevan, then 24, and Greg Blewett, 23, both debuted before Ponting who was then dropped and recalled four times between 1995 and 1999 and did not settle at No.3 until 2001, just before he turned 26.Australia blooded two young openers in 1993-94 in Michael Slater, then 23, and Matthew Hayden, 22, but both had a lot more experience than Konstas.The closest comparison to Konstas’ first-class inexperience is, somewhat neatly, the man who Australia are trying to replace in Warner.But even Warner had piled up 960 runs in 11 first-class matches including a double-century, two other centuries and a 99, dispelling any myths about him being purely a T20 slogger. Warner was also 25 when he made his Test debut and had played ten ODIs for Australia and 29 T20Is, including two T20 World Cups.Sam Konstas has played only six first-class games so far•Getty ImagesThe trope about Smith being picked without many first-class runs behind him is also a misnomer. He had made four Shield centuries in a single season and scored 1012 first-class runs at 56.22. Like Warner, he had also debuted in ODI and T20I cricket before his Test debut.Good judges are saying that Konstas is the equal of all these players despite a tiny sample size. He could well swell his record against India A and make his case for selection almost irrefutable.But there is a player who has quietly exited from view as a possible option to open against India whose career arc, so far, does provide a salutary lesson about the dangers of promoting a player too soon.Matt Renshaw had played just 12 first-class games when plucked for his Test debut aged 20, averaging under 45 with three centuries. Unlike Warner, Smith and even Green, he had not got a chance to make his international debut in white-ball cricket and had played just one game for Australia A.Renshaw is now 28 and his Test career has been a rollercoaster ride in the mould of Hayden’s first seven years, after the selection initially appeared a success as he averaged 53.22 in his first six Tests. He was Australia’s back-up batter in their last two Test series but seems right now to be well outside the top four options to fill the current vacancy.Selecting is not an exact science, but there is clear evidence that more data is better than less. Konstas could well be the real deal. However, it would be an unprecedented gamble if he were to be picked so soon.