After his sparkling debut, where he even scooped Jasprit Bumrah over the fence, teenage opener Sam Konstas’s graph has plummeted. In the five outings after his 65-ball 60 at MCG, he has mustered only 61 runs, putting his place in jeopardy. He was named in the eleven for the second Test against West Indies in Granada, but time is running out for him to cement his place in the eleven.
But he has the sympathies of former Australian batsman Mike Hussey. “(Konstas) is still a very young player, he’s only 19. He’s still trying to figure out his own game, at first-class level, let alone Test-match level in conditions that are so foreign to what he would be used to. I’m not sure he would have ever batted on pitches like what they’re getting in the West Indies,” he told Fox Cricket.
“It’s great education for him, and we’re going to have to have some patience. It’s going to take some time and he’s going to have to learn on the job a bit,” he added.
He looked timorous in Barbados, where Shamar Joseph hustled him with pace and movement. He consumed him in both innings, nailing him in front with a malicious nip-backer in the first dig and making him chop onto the stumps in the second. But Hussey was firmly behind him. “But there’s no denying he’s got some great talent. I’m sure that the journey is going to be bumpy, particularly in the first few years. There’s going to be some ups and downs, but let’s hope there’s a few more ups than downs along the way,” he remarked.
Team coach Andrew McDonald too has backed his young charge to come good sooner than later. He observed that it was a matter of time before he struck the fine balance between attack and defence. Against India, he was over attacking; versus West Indies over-defensive. “It felt like he was stuck at times and he was over-aggressive and then [he] underplayed. It’s really that balance and tempo. He’s got that there and that’s a step up to Test cricket. He’s got a really good partner down the other end [in Usman Khawaja] that over time, I think, will play out. That’s all we ask for – a bit of patience and time with a young player coming into Test cricket,” explained.
A technical glitch has already surfaced. He gets into a tangle when the ball seams in, and subsequently gets bowled or lbw. “He’s been on the record around working on his technique in the winter and some small adjustments and how they play out in training versus under extreme pressure is always a different sort of pattern,” McDonald said.
Hussey said he didn’t detect anything alarming in his technique. “I feel as though teams will be targeting balls running back towards the stumps, LBW and bowled. He could probably just tighten up on that little part of his game a bit, but generally speaking his technique is reasonably sound. Then the mental side of the game kicks in and he’s just a little bit unsure, but that’s probably down to unfamiliar conditions in the West Indies,” he said.
