Following a breakout summer headlined by twin Sheffield Shield hundreds a thrilling Test debut at the MCG, Sam Konstas has become Australian cricket’s most captivating enigma.
Everyone seems to have an opinion on the batting wunderkind, even sparking interest from those who rarely watch the sport.
It has become must-watch viewing whenever he walks out to bat, while every dismissal is thrust firmly under the microscope. Whether he’s ramping the world’s greatest bowlers or orchestrating Bay 13 like a conductor, Konstas is box office.
However, pressure is mounting on the teenager after another failure with the bat during New South Wales’ ongoing Sheffield Shield match against Western Australia in Perth. After a cautious start, the 19-year-old opener was dismissed by seamer Joel Paris during the evening session of day one after mistiming a lofted drive towards mid-off, trudging off for 6.
The Blues, having bowled Western Australia out for 196, were 3-17 at stumps with batter Kurtis Patterson and nightwatcher Liam Hatcher unbeaten overnight.
Konstas, who missed selection for the recent Warne–Muralitharan Trophy campaign in Sri Lanka, has not notched a first-class fifty since his unforgettable Test debut at the MCG on Boxing Day, registering scores of 6, 17, 10, 22, 3, 22, 23 and 8. With one round of Sheffield Shield cricket remaining, he is running out of chances to cement his spot in Australia’s starting XI for June’s World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lord’s.
Part of Konstas’ allure is his unpredictability. Since his Prime Minister’s XI century against India in Canberra, he has become renowned for dazzling bursts of aggression with the willow, switching to white-ball mode and producing a flurry of ramps and slogs against the new ball.
Konstas’ Boxing Day blitz cemented himself in cricket folklore, but the Melbourne assault wasn’t an isolated incident, with the right-hander resurrecting the approach during this month’s Sheffield Shield contest against Victoria at the SCG.
After ramping the second ball of the match over the wicketkeeper’s head for a boundary, Konstas was bowled around his legs by Australian teammate Scott Boland after walking across the pitch and attempting an ill-judged slog-sweep. The seven-ball cameo understandably drew plenty of criticism.
However, Konstas altered his method in the second innings, choosing not to play any attacking shots until he had soaked up 30 deliveries. He was patient, respectful, watchful; all the attributes of a traditional red-ball opener.
He was also more circumspect with the bat during his twin Sheffield Shield hundreds against South Australia in October, a performance that put him on the national radar.
So when Konstas walked out to bat at the WACA on Thursday, the Perth spectators would have wondered which version of Konstas they’d be treated to - the forceful entertainer or the stoic conservative.
Konstas seemingly chooses his batting persona on a whim, but only he knows whether it’s a calculated risk or gut-feel intuition. Last month, Victorian coach Chris Rogers suggested the teenager has expressed reluctance about persisting with the high-risk, high-reward modus operandi that made him a household name.
“It’s interesting because I know a couple of the boys who have been around him said he doesn’t particularly want to play like that,” Rogers told reporters.
“I wonder if it’s just he gets into the contest and his heart rate goes up and he makes these decisions a little bit on the fly. I really don’t know.”
Meanwhile, Australian captain Pat Cummins has endorsed Konstas’ batting bravado, encouraging him to take the game on and follow his instincts.
“I’d much rather a player err on the aggressive and overconfident side rather than sitting back and letting the game dictate to him,” Cummins told News Corp in February.
However, Konstas has yet to prove that he has the skill, technique and temperament to succeed as a Test cricketer, and Australian legend Allan Border believes his Bazball-adjacent approach isn’t sustainable.
“He’s 19, so he’s got that youthful exuberance. I don’t want to take that away from him,” Border told Fox Cricket in January.
“But can you play that way consistently, constantly?
“We’re seeing the future. Blokes don’t want to just play conservatively, they want to attack the bowling. Is it the right way? There’s room for it, maybe not for everyone.
“But for him, if he wants to play that way, (he needs to) get some consistency about his scoring. It’s no good getting 25 with ramps and the rest of it. It doesn’t help the side at all.”
Elsewhere, Former Australian captain Steve Waugh questioned whether Konstas was suffering from dissociative identity disorder following his Boxing Day bash.
“I just hope (his debut) hasn’t messed with his head. He is only 19. I look back to when I was 19 and I didn’t know what I was doing really,” Waugh said on SEN last week.
“He has taken on a big risk the way he has played and he has almost probably suffered for it already, dropped after a couple of Test matches and didn’t play against Sri Lanka.
“(He then) goes back to Shield cricket and doesn’t really know what he is doing. I saw the match against Victoria where the first over of a Shield game he tried ramping shots, reverse sweep and charging Scott Boland who is one of the best bowlers in the world.
“You’ve got to have more respect for the game, the game will bite you pretty quickly if you don’t respect it.
“I’d like to see him play a traditional innings in the next couple of matches and get his head right and get him back in the zone.
“I’ve seen him play grade cricket for Sutherland and he is technically very correct and plays traditionally. He has to get back to that because if he keeps playing the way he is, he is not going to be successful.”
It’s an ugly look when Konstas’ counterpunch backfires, but his Boxing Day heroics demonstrated the ploy’s effectiveness.
Indian quick Jasprit Bumrah, who tormented Australia’s top order throughout the summer, conceded 38 runs during his first six overs at the MCG, making it the most expensive opening spell of his Test career. He didn’t know where to bowl at Konstas, producing low full-tosses wide of the stumps as he searched for a yorker.
For the first time in the series, Bumrah looked frazzled.
Within a few overs of the Boxing Day Test, Indian captain Rohit Sharma had sent one of his slip fielders to the deep-third boundary rope to stem the flow of runs. A few minutes later, Konstas edged a delivery directly towards where the fielder had been standing.
The following week, a deep third was already set when Konstas walked out to bat on day one of the New Year’s Test in Sydney, forcing him to shelve the ramp shot. However, the first delivery he faced without a deep third was scooped over the slips cordon for a boundary, with Bumrah sheepishly sending the fielder back to the boundary rope.
Konstas was toying with the Indians. He had defused the team’s most lethal weapon, helping Australia win back to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with a 3-1 series triumph.
“We saw the impact it had for the rest of the other batters,” former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson, who has mentored Konstas for several years, told reporters in January.
“It just freed those more senior batters up to go, ‘You know what? We just have to let go and not be worried about getting out’. Sam was that personified with the way he batted.
“Sam will trust what he feels and go with it.”
He continued: “The one thing that we’ve always talked about is trusting his gut.
“Obviously after those first couple of overs of Bumrah weaving his magic (at the MCG), he felt, ‘If I am going to bat normally, it’s a matter of time before he gets me out’.
“So he obviously just went with what he felt and fully committed to it. That takes a lot of courage.
“It just shows that he’s built for this stage. Most people it takes a bit of time to warm up to get into that, whereas Sam just thrives on that.”
Konstas’ on-field brashness has also divided opinion. He riled up the Indians during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which reached boiling point on the final delivery of day one of the Sydney Test.
The New South Welshman became embroiled in a war of words with Bumrah regarding a time-wasting ploy, which prompted umpire intervention. The following delivery, India’s players swarmed Konstas at the nonstriker’s end following the dismissal of opening partner Usman Khawaja, while Indian superstar Virat Kohli, who shoulder-barged him the previous week, stormed across from first slip to yell in his direction.
Konstas had poked the bear. Despite denials from within the Indian camp, he had clearly struck a nerve.
“I’ve never ever seen that before,” Border said of the dramatic altercation.
“That tells me he’s upset the Indians somehow for them to react like that.”
Konstas hasn’t shied away from the spotlight. His on-field antics include chirping at batters under the lid and riling up the crowd, mocking Kohli by thrusting his shoulder towards the Bharat Army at the MCG.
According to Border, Konstas risks provoking the opposition and fuelling the fire if he doesn’t reign in his behaviour.
“There’s a cockiness about the way he plays. I’m all for confidence and letting him do his thing … but that cockiness you’ve got to try and take out of the equation,” Border said.
“I would have had a word by now, just to say, ‘Mate, as you’re finding out, it’s a slightly different ball game to Under 19s.’
“You want to be confident about your abilities ... but that doesn’t mean just saying ridiculous things out in the field, just for the sake of chirping someone.
“You’ve got to earn your stripes. Him chirping them, I would feel really aggrieved by that; a 19-year-old brat having a crack. They’ll want to bring this guy back down to earth pretty quick.
“This game has a habit of biting you on the ass, so just calm the farm a little bit.”
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