Boxing clever: Sam Konstas’ debut innings has the lot at the MCG
In case you missed it, Will Swanton goes through the seven key components of one of the most swashbuckling innings – and Test debuts – in living memory. And India didn’t like it one bit
1. Trick Shots
He’s unbeaten on two. Faced all of 10 balls in his career. That’ll do for the niceties. Eye’s in, let’s go. He tries a reverse ramp off Jasprit Bumrah. The cheek of it. The hide. He misses. May have looked a fool if dismissed. Fortune favours athletes like Konstas. Bumrah concedes four, six, four in an over of jaw-dropping Harlem Globetrotter batting. Even Bumrah has a laugh at the audacity. Bumrah stops laughing.
2. Boundaries
Six fours. Two sixes. His wagon wheel is spinning out of control. More ramps, reverse sweeps and scoops. All with a bit of swagger and strut. He flays a glorious square cut to the rope. A deft nudge to the fence at third man. A thunderous pull through mid-wicket. Textbook off-drive for four. Hoik over long-on for six. Every shot in the book. And a couple of additions. Pure shotmaking and premeditated risks that come off.
3. The Hurt Ball
Mohammed Siraj keeps giving Konstas lip. Only steels the young fellow. Makes him go bigger and better. Siraj gets a ball to nip back off the seam. That’s a bit below the belt. Hits Konstas where it hurts. It’s the one and only time he’s speechless and strokeless. Takes a single from the next ball. There’s one thing you need at a moment like this. Time at the other end.
4. Clash with titan
The video replay makes this plain as day. Konstas is adjusting his gloves on the pitch. Kohli is a couple of metres wide of the mown portion. He veers and makes a beeline for Konstas and shoulders him. Pathetic, really. If Kohli is apologetic and admits wrongdoing, fine him. If he protests laughable innocence, suspend him from the SCG Test.
5. Milestone
Fifties aren’t that big a deal to Test batters – unless you’re on debut, when any milestone feels major. Konstas gets a clunky inside edge for two. One of the few balls he hasn’t middled. He later admits to getting goosebumps while raising his bat and then pointing it to his surname on the back of his shirt. All of a sudden, a household name.
6. Dismissal
He seems ready to go into his shell for a while. Settling into a red-ball groove. He does this for NSW. Goes bonkers in an innings then plays more sensibly and then hits the accelerator again. Just when a century on debut is on the horizon, he’s LBW to Ravindra Jadeja. A hush. Out, out, brief candle! Sixty from 65 balls. All in the blink of an eye.
7. Ovation
He’s not especially keen to depart. He asks Usman Khawaja if he should refer it to the video. Khawaja tells him to cop it sweet. And so he does. Konstas saunters off, bat raised. A huge MCG crowd is on its feet for the sort of rare entertainment David Hookes and Doug Walters once provided. He’s peeved. At every level of cricket, hundreds are his go. His first Test innings has had the lot. It won’t be his last.
More Coverage
Aussies into semis despite second washout against Afghanistan
Australia is through to the Champions Trophy semi finals despite rain forcing play to be abandoned during their chase of Afghanistan’s target of 274 at Lahore.
‘Make an impact’: Former Wildcats champ plots Perth’s demise
Melbourne forward Kyle Bowen may have already won an NBL championship with semi-final opponent Perth, but says a title in blue would “absolutely” taste sweeter with United.