How being ‘too cute’ brought the batting wonder boy Sam Konstas back down to earth

Australia is guilty of being too cute with Sam Konstas, their greatest crime a major misread of their rivals’ strength. That’s a problem for not only the Ashes, but his growth as a Test opener.

Australia is guilty of being too cute with Sam Konstas, their greatest crime a major misread of the strength their opponents.

Australia sensed Sri Lanka would be a tough tour – it was a breeze. It thought the West Indies would be a breeze – it was a batting nightmare.

So we now have a crestfallen 19-year-old with a totally scrambled radar who was rested from the “breeze’’ tour and tossed into a batting inferno where no batsman has made 80 in the series.

If they went back in time the selectors would keep Konstas rolling in Sri Lanka after he won them the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Whatever deficiencies in his game – and he does appear slightly over-rated and very much a work in progress – could have been worked on there.

Instead, he will return from the West Indies and be axed from the Test team for the Ashes with the case against his selection starting with statistics and stretching all the way to his right big toe.

Sam Konstas scored 50 runs at an average of 8.33 against the West Indies. Picture: AFP

In the second Test in Grenada you could see all of Konstas’ stumps at times when he took guard towards the leg side but, suddenly in Jamaica, he has moved all the way across his stumps, taking guard near off peg and even having the big toe area of his back boot outside off stump as he tried to get close to the ball and get a sense of where his stumps are.

That’s called overcompensating. Dangerous stuff. Repairs on the run are challenging enough if you are Steve Smith or Joe Root.

But a 19-year-old against a hopping pink ball? His stance roared out the vibe “LBW prospect’’ and sure enough that was his first innings fate with eagle eyed Justin Greaves first ball.

It’s been a brutal Test series for Sam Konstas. Picture: AFP

Konstas’ axing need not be terminal. Ricky Ponting was dropped several times early in his Test career. Steve Waugh, Allan Border and even Don Bradman was made 12th man.

But there are also those who never made it back. As Greg Chappell used to say “if you ever bet on whether a player will make it, the safest option is “no’’ because very few do.’’

The trouble with choosing a 19-year-old is that he gets dubbed a freak just by getting to Test cricket at that age and immediately gets linked with other teenage Test whiz kids Doug Walters, Neil Harvey and Ponting who debuted at 20.

But the conspicuous difference is that, even as teenagers, those three players were far better than Konstas in that glamourless part of the game that puts people to sleep when you talk about it but ultimately decides where your career will head – defence.

As Matthew Hayden once said: “You can cook up all the fancy pavlovas you like but unless you have the fibre to grind through those boring old meat and potatoes moments early in an innings, honestly you’ve got nothing.’’

Originally published as How being ‘too cute’ brought the batting wonder boy Sam Konstas back down to earth