Steve Waugh likens Sam Konstas’ struggles to his own as the opener has lost his Test place after a lean start.
Steve Waugh drew comparisons to his own career as a young player attempting to find his way, while George Bailey expressed sympathy for Sam Konstas following his exclusion from the Test.
Konstas made just 50 runs in six innings during a difficult tour of the West Indies, and his lacklustre start to the Sheffield Shield season—he has only scored one half-century in six innings—sealed his doom. However, he had previously hit a hundred for Australia A in India. Konstas, who just turned 20, made his debut against India at the MCG last summer, where he thrillingly faced Jasprit Bumrah. However, he was left out in Sri Lanka before being called up in difficult batting conditions in the Caribbean.
“I feel for Sammy [Konstas] because at the moment, if he farts, it’s a headline,” Bailey said at the announcement of Australia’s squad for the first Ashes Test. “There’s a handful of young guys his age playing Shield cricket around the country, and they are all learning and are all going through the journey of becoming the best cricketer they can be, and Sammy is no different – he just happens to doing it under immense scrutiny.”
“We really like him… he’s been in and around the Boxing Day Test, he’s been on subcontinent tours, [and] he’s been on Aussie A tours. So we like the skillset, and [are] confident over the long run, it will continue to build out. It’s not going to be linear – no one’s passage through their career is linear – [but] the message is just to keep it simple: score runs and bat for as long as he can for New South Wales.”
At the age of 20, Waugh made his Test debut against India on Boxing Day at the MCG. He spoke with the Waterford Crystal Ashes trophy, which is beginning a tour of Australia. It wasn’t until his 27th game, against England at the beginning of the 1989 Ashes, that he scored a century. After being replaced by his brother Mark eighteen months later, he went on to become one of Australia’s best hitters with 32 Test hundreds.
“I feel a little bit sorry for Sam Konstas,” Waugh said shortly before the squad was confirmed. “He’s been in and out of the side a bit, and it actually reminds me a bit of myself when I first started playing for Australia. Not fully confident of being in the side, and up and down, and form not quite there. So he’s probably lacking a bit of confidence.
“[My advice to Konstas would be] not to listen to everybody. Just trust one or two people around you. Go back to basics. At the end of the day, it’s really hard to learn how to play Test cricket while you’re playing Test cricket, and that’s what happened to me for a few years. I wasn’t really that finished product. I’d go back to Shield cricket, try and build some long innings, bat for as long as you can, and just get to know your game really well. And then [when] you walk out to play for Australia, you’re confident in what you’re doing.
“I think, at the moment, he’s guessing how he’s meant to play. There’s a lot of expectations, so he’s probably not playing with a clear mind.”