Sam Konstas has the confidence and the skill to handle the most daunting entries into Test cricket that you could imagine – opening on Boxing Day against India in front of 90,000 spectators.
It’s one of the things that his teammates talk about and you can see from the way he bats that he exudes confidence.
Without wanting to put too much pressure on a 19-year-old, the best-case scenario is that he could turn out to be a generational player, the batter that Australia can build the next era around.
If he can get through the first spell from Jasprit Bumrah, I think he can succeed first up even though it’s going to be a massive contest.
Konstas is an attacking batter which helps with Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne being more of the accumulator type. He looks like he can take down bowling.
And most importantly of all, he’s a specialist opener.
Konstas has virtually come straight from the Australian Under 19s to Sheffield Shield cricket with NSW. Scored twin tons there, got another one in the Prime Minister’s XI against India and you could see from his half-century in the BBL last week that he’s got the potential to be a three-format player for Australia.
He should take confidence from all the runs he’s scored recently in the red-ball and white-ball formats.
He’s riding high and good luck to him. Imagine walking out to make your debut in front of 90,000 on Boxing Day. He won’t be overawed by the occasion.
If he can make a decent fist of these next two Tests, he can then go to Sri Lanka where I think opening is probably the best place to bat. And then the West Indies so he could have a real good build-up for the Ashes next year with plenty of Tests.
When it comes to the guy he replaces, I think for the selectors it came down to a decision between Nathan McSweeney, Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne.
Sam Konstas. (Photo by Josh Chadwick/Getty Images)
They know the other two guys at their best are world class but McSweeney hasn’t been able to show it yet in his first three Tests so he’s paid the price.
There’s been a bit of talk that the selectors are too close to the players and I don’t know if it played much of a role but it’s sparked change.
Definitely when I was playing, the selectors were a lot more distant, which we didn’t know any different so that is the way it was.
I remember seeing Andrew Hilditch and Jamie Cox, they were probably the first selectors helping out at training so it’s been happening for a fair while.
I’d like to see them bring in one extra selector that is a bit more at arm’s length compared to George Bailey and Tony Dodemaide who are right in there with the team.
I think it is easier to have those tough conversations when you are part of the team but maybe guys get a longer chance.
McSweeney’s been dropped so they have made a tough call this week but for me, it’s not really the biggest issue going around Australian cricket.
I was lucky for someone who was an average player, I didn’t get dropped too much. I was always getting injured and losing my spot that way.
There’s never a lot of feedback. Trevor Hohns was the first proactive chairman of selectors – when I was injured and coming back he’d touch base with me to see how I was tracking.
The thing with McSweeney is you don’t know until you play. But once you play, it’s 1,000 times better than what you even think.
Now he’s had a taste for Test cricket, once the fire’s lit, it’ll be a burning ambition to get himself back there.
It was a speculative selection and it didn’t work out but he will be better for the run. The next time he comes into the team, he’s hopefully gone back to Sheffield Shield cricket and worked on what he needs to fix, and he will find Test cricket 1000 times easier than facing Bumrah with the new ball at opener.
Nathan McSweeney celebrates the Brisbane Heat’s BBL victory over the Adelaide Strikers. (Photo by Chris Hyde – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
The greatest of all time, Sir Donald Bradman, got dropped. Some of the legends that I played with like Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, Matthew Hayden, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath got punted early in their careers and came back better players.
He’s got a really good temperament and he was dynamic in the field but he looks more like a middle-order batter than an opener.
With the series locked at 1-1 and the MCG pitch looking a beauty, there will be a result, don’t worry about that.
I think it’s supposed to be 40 degrees on day one and I don’t think we’ve had that for a long time. What effect that has on the pitch over five days I’m not sure but it will be a new-ball wicket once again so that brings Bumrah more into the equation but also Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins for Australia.
And then the Aussies have Scott Boland champing at the bit to replace Josh Hazlewood so they won’t lose much at all there.
Bolo loves playing on his home wicket but his biggest stress is going to be coming up with 100-plus tickets for all his friends, family, friends of friends and people he barely knows who are going to be asking for tickets.
He will have to hit up his teammates to see if he can get some from them. He’s a man of few words but he’s going to have to call in a few favours to make sure they’re all catered for.
His inclusion means no real change to the Aussie attack and that to me means the pressure is on the Indian batting line-up but they don’t fear playing at the MCG because they’ve won the last two times there.
Their top order has got to get runs. They need their middle order coming in later against an old ball to build a big total.
India will get a lot out of Australia’s second innings with the bat in Brisbane. If they didn’t get seven quick wickets then, I don’t think there would have been much for them to take out of the third Test.
But that will give them just that extra little boost of confidence instead of coming off two straight Tests where Australia dominated them.
It has been an enthralling series and it’s set up perfectly heading into the final two Tests where it’s hard based on the weird form from most of the players in the first three matches to confidently predict how each team is going to go.
(Photo by Getty Images)
Deano and Bevo the perfect choices
I just want to add a little shout-out to a couple of my old teammates who received well-deserved honours this week with the Dean Jones Trophy and Michael Bevan Medal being brought in for the domestic one-day competition.
I just felt like they revolutionised one-day cricket in their own styles.
Deano was the first to show how much value there could be by being able to shoot in between the wickets to make sure he can get back for twos and threes..
Particularly at the MCG, he played his home ground really well with the bigger fan base.
It’s such a shame that he’s not around to see the trophy named in his honour because he would be absolutely chuffed.
And Bevo took the mantle from Deano as Australia’s one-day star with the way he created that finisher role and made it his own.
He was the first player I knew who could plan a run-chase almost like a cricketing Rain Man.
Bevo would plan to win off the last ball and work his way back from there, deciding which bowlers he would take on, how many runs were needed off each over and how does he break that down off each ball.
And he would often finish the job well before the last ball but he could even get the job done even if it did come down to that last delivery like that famous match against the West Indies at the SCG in 1996.
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