NSW coach Greg Shipperd says Sam Konstas and Josh Inglis should be considered for Test opening spot

While the push for Sam Konstas to open for Australia is strong a new challenger is emerging and he has the support of someone in the NSW camp.

Teenage batting sensation Sam Konstas has been compared to Ricky Ponting at the same age by a man who has coached them both adamant the 19-year-old “has the game” to succeed if his ascension to Test level comes against India this summer.

But NSW coach, and former Tassie mentor, Greg Shipperd, who watched as 18-year-old Ponting became the youngest player in Shield history to make two hundreds in a single game but was made to wait until he was 21 for a Test debut, couldn’t deny having patience with Konstas could have long term benefits.

As he threw his support firmly behind Konstas, Shipperd also labelled West Australian keeper Josh Inglis a “right-handed version of David Warner” and a legitimate contender to fill the opening vacancy against India.

Sam Konstas of New South Wales bats against Victoria at the MCG. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

Konstas became the youngest player since Ponting to make two centuries in the same Shield match when he opened the season with scores of 152 and 105 against South Australia to earn a call-up for the Australia A team to face India A.

That ensured the right-hander was firmly in the selection window to fill the gap at the top of the Australian batting order, and Shipperd said Konstas’ second innings score of 43 against Victoria at the MCG this week was equally as impressive.

“I thought he was a bit stiff in the first innings and in the second innings he started to show everyone what he’s got, he was really poised and balanced,” he said on Wednesday after NSW lost to Victoria.

“Any time you get through the first 25 overs of a Victorian attack with a new ball it shows you’ve got something. But for a sad error, in terms of judgment (in the second innings), he showed he should be in a conversation at least.”

Ricky Ponting batting for Tasmania as a teenager. (Pic by unidentified staff photographer)

Shipperd said Konstas was not getting caught up in the hype around him.

“He’s really relaxed and focused on learning and focused on what his game is all about in terms of what’s working and where the challenges may be,” he said.

“He had a couple of those in this innings where he did a couple of strange things in terms of his choices but he’s reflecting on those. We are really confident he has the game if picked. The next couple of matches for the Australia A team will tell the story in terms of what the selectors will do.”

Shipperd then made the comparison to Pointing, in the way he bats. But he said while Ponting was made to wait to break into a “super Australian side”, that’s not the case now.

“He was made to wait. Whether that made him, or he was already made because he was scoring multiple hundreds across the course of that journey,” he said.

“With Sam, I do so see a lot of skill level and that poise at the crease, shots on both sides of the wicket, in front of the wicket, behind the wicket, I think he’s got what it takes.

“There is a gap in the Australian team in the position he bats at the moment, so he’s worth being heavily in the conversation.”

Josh Inglis has centuries in back-to-back #SheffieldShield matches 💪 pic.twitter.com/5J80jJMnyc

— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) October 22, 2024

So to should Inglis, according to Shipperd, who has made back-to-back Shield hundreds himself, and is a proven international white-call performer with two T20 hundreds.

“I’d have Inglis and Konstas in the conversation as one-two, two-one, and let the Australian selectors mull over those two,” he said.

“His performances for Australia have been first-class, and I think they’re looking for a style of player at the top of the order, and Inglis may fit that brief.

“He’s a right-handed version of David Warner in terms of someone who wants to get on with it and has strokes all around the wicket.

“He’s played at the level internationally and he’s a well-respected player.”

Originally published as NSW coach Greg Shipperd says Sam Konstas and Josh Inglis should be considered for Test opening spot