It has been a while since David Warner retired from Test cricket, and Australia are yet to find a long-term replacement for the southpaw. They did try their hand with Nathan McSweeney during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy but quickly moved on to young Sam Konstas. Apart from his blistering innings at Melbourne on Boxing Day, Konstas did find it hard to create the same impact at the international stage as he did at the domestic level. In the recently concluded Test series against the West Indies, the teenager struggled even more, which opened up the debate of who needs to open in the Ashes 2025 later Down Under.
“The batters that they’re talking about in the last couple of weeks in particular have been Sam Konstas and Usman Khawaja, and then there was some talk about Cameron Green, whether he’s a long-term number three or not,” Former Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting said on the ICC Review. “Green’s second innings in the West Indies might have put that to bed. As tough as the conditions were, the way he batted might have silenced a few of those critics,” he said.
“I read a really interesting piece by Robert Craddock about how they tried to protect Sam from the Sri Lanka tour, thinking the Caribbean would be easier. But it turned out the pitches in Sri Lanka were better for batting and the West Indies surfaces were tough,” Ponting explained.
“That last match where the West Indies were bowled out for 27 – that’s not just world-class bowling, that’s also about the surface and conditions,” he added. “The unfortunate thing about Test cricket is that, when you’re a young player, you often have to work things out yourself – in the middle,” Ponting said. “Practice, coaching, advice, they all help, but finding a method that works for you happens out there in real match situations,” he concluded.
