Sam Konstas and Australia lap up Barbados life ahead of West Indies tour

Cricket training in Barbados followed by fish burgers at the beach. It’s a life we could all get used to and one Sam Konstas is loving as he soaks up touring the Caribbean.

Sam Konstas spent the morning before his return Test match hanging on the beach near the Australian team’s hotel with his family, dipping in and out of the turquoise bay and taking happy snaps like any other group of inconspicuous Western tourists.

It was a far cry from the glare of a packed MCG or SCG, the stages for the teenager’s two Tests to date, let alone the relentless chaos of India where players are sometimes reluctant to leave their hotel rooms lest they be swamped.

A day earlier in Barbados, Marnus Labuschagne, Alex Carey and Matt Kuhnemann stood waiting to order at a beachside fish burger joint clad in full Australian training kit and still holding their gear from the morning’s training session. They stopped for photos with some touring Australian fans, hardly a hassle.

Test cricket takes its participants to some extraordinary places, from the foot of Table Mountain in Cape Town, to the scenic Galle Fort, and the majestic backdrop of the Himalayas in Dharamsala.

And yet while the beach itself is not visible from inside Bridgetown’s Kensington Oval, it is just walking distance away, as is the childhood home of music superstar Rihanna.

Sam Konstas enjoying the sun.

Sam Konstas in Barbados.

The added advantage here is the low-key nature of Barbados, that players can safely roam the streets without major fear of being mobbed or mugged.

Unlike in Jamaica, hosts of the third Test of this series, crime – with the exception of gang disputes – is not a major issue in Barbados.

No wonder this is viewed as a sought-after tour for players, supporters and media alike.

“I’ve had some very fond memories here, like it’s, it’s a pretty amazing place,” veteran spinner Nathan Lyon told this masthead.

“As an Australian cricketer growing up, you always dream of touring England and then probably touring the Caribbean. I grew up with the DVD of I’m not sure exactly what year it was, but when Steve Waugh and all these guys were running around playing Test cricket over here, I had a DVD of it.

Sam Konstas in the surf.

Pat Cummins (L) of Australia and Roston Chase (R).

“Used to watch it all the time as a kid growing up on repeat. So yeah, I’ve got fond memories here. Had some unbelievable Test match wins here, which has been pretty exciting.”

While the breakthrough 1995 Test series win to end the Windies’ 15-year ascendancy remains the standard bearer for Aussie victories in this region – and perhaps overall – Lyon was also part of a couple of less-celebrated series wins in 2012 and 2015.

The latter of those was a rout, but the 2012 tussle was relatively even, with Australia’s 2-0 scoreline perhaps not reflective of the tightness of the three-Test stoush.

This week’s Test will be Australian captain Pat Cummins’ first in the region, but he appreciates the history and lore of cricket in the Windies.

“I think it’s literally the furthest place from Australia on earth. Well, seems like that way travelling over here. But you hear all the stories,” said Cummins, sporting a new baggy green as his original was fraying.

“Fans have on their bucket list to come and travel over here at least once. So if you do it as a player, it’s great. Three Test match series as well. It’s a relatively big series. And yeah, kicking off in Barbados, one of those iconic West Indian venues, is great. So I’m really excited.”

Barbados is one of the most idyllic places in the world for cricketers to tour.

But it has been 10 years between Australian Test series in the Caribbean, and despite the iconic scenes of the Windies’ win in Brisbane last year, that proved very much the exception to the rule. The West Indies have finished second last in each of the three World Test Championship cycles to date, and the Windies aren’t setting their sights too high this time around. New skipper Roston Chase said on match eve that a finish between fourth and sixth would be a victory of sorts.

More pertinently, the future of Test cricket here is highly uncertain beyond the next half a decade. At a gala event in Barbados a few nights out from the series opener at which the 1975 World Cup winners were celebrated, the top brass of Windies cricket sought to rally the crowd. They preached that the Windies would not meekly submit to the supposed global order, one in which there could be even room for the weaker nations to play the format amid the franchise boom and the prospect of even more tiered Test cricket.

West Indies' Nicholas Pooran.

But that rang somewhat hollow when T20 blaster Nicholas Pooran – though never a Test player – was unavailable to receive an award he won. Instead he was in the US where he is playing for New York in Major League Cricket, having retired from the international game at just 29.

Cricketing knights Viv Richards and Andy Roberts were among those honoured at the event, as was the 90-year-old Lance Gibbs, once Test cricket’s all-time leading wicket-taker. These Caribbean legends made their names playing with the maroon cap, but come the 60th anniversary, will that even be a possibility for the next generation?

Originally published as Sam Konstas and Australia lap up Barbados life ahead of West Indies tour