Opener and shut case: hard talk with Konstas in cold light of day
NSW coach Greg Shipperd reveals he had a frank discussion with the rookie Test opener about his headspace after he played an innings that was partly comical, mostly reckless.
The veteran coach denied speculation in cricket circles this week he had given the 19-year-old a good old-fashioned spray in the SCG dressing-room after he played an innings that was partly comical, mostly reckless.
Instead, Shipperd spoke to him in the “cool of the next morning” after consulting Australia coach Andrew McDonald and Konstas’ batting mentor, former Test opening all-rounder Shane Watson.
Against a world-class quick in Scott Boland and on a quality SCG wicket, with so much debate about him opening for Australia for the World Test Championship against South Africa in June, this Shield match was an opportunity for Konstas to remind selectors he can bat unremarkably when required.
Instead, he immediately deployed ramp shots and reverse sweeps before he was bowled stepping outside off-stump attempting to dispatch Boland to the short legside boundary. He’d lasted a grand total of 2.1 overs.
The talk out of the SCG that day was Shipperd had delivered a blunt assessment to Konstas when he returned to the dressing-room, including one who heard it in the Members Stand.
Shipperd “unequivocally” denied this when I spoke to him on Friday morning.
“We spoke in a room at Cricket NSW the next morning in the cool of the next morning,” he said. “I wanted to understand where his head is at and why he batted like that. I’d also spoken to Andrew McDonald and Shane Watson to make sure we’re all on the same page.”
When Konstas was under attack from Indian players and cricket purists alike during his volatile introduction to the Australian Test team, he had no greater supporter than his state coach.
“Disgraceful,” is how Shipperd described Virat Kohli’s shoulder charge of Konstas in the first session of the Boxing Day Test.
And it was.
He also defended Konstas’ cavalier approach. “I wouldn’t use the word arrogance to describe him in any way shape or form,” he told SEN Radio.
Shipperd’s defence of Konstas was less hysterical than most, who elevated it into a generational clash instead of one purely about cricket.
If you dared question it — as former captains Allan Border and Ricky Ponting so calmly did — you were pinned as a “boomer” or “Karen”. How silly: arguing that opening batsmen in red-ball cricket should occupy the crease longer than a session does not make you Grandpa Simpson.
Konstas helped turn the series Australia’s way but admitted publicly and to those close to him he’d been swept up in the moment in front of roaring crowds.
He’s clearly a work in a progress and the rush to anoint him as the mainstay at the top of the Australian batting order, in an Ashes year, is premature. In the second innings against Victoria, Shipperd’s harsh words were evidently ringing in Konstas’ head: exaggerated leaves, textbook forward defences, tantalising short balls begging to be hooked into the carpark were allowed to sail over his head.
Then he slashed at a wide Boland delivery, and it was gobbled up at point, out for 17.
As Steve Smith has said, Konstas has “all the tools” to be successful in every format of the game for years to come, but surely opening in Test and Shield cricket requires focus longer than a TikTok video?
OK, Boomer.
Waugh and peace?
When the river runs dry, Rugby Australia will return to the scene of the crime – and that crime was how it treated former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika.
It was revealed this week that Cheika was spotted having coffee with RA chief executive Phil Waugh in North Sydney and has been subsequently added to the shortlist to replace Joe Schmidt at the end of the year.
While Les Kiss, Dan McKellar, and Stephen Larkham all seem capable of the doing the job, Cheika’s credentials put him at the front of the queue. He never received enough credit for guiding Argentina to the semi-finals at the 2023 Rugby World Cup – a result nobody predicted.
The story about Cheika’s meeting with Waugh was curious. You can bet it didn’t come from him. Was someone testing the waters publicly about his return?
Cheika coached the Wallabies from 2014 to 2019. It started great but finished terribly with a 50 per cent win-loss record.
Remember, though, he was coaching against the backdrop of the never-ending Israel Folau circus and under chief executive Raelene Castle and chairman Cameron Clyne, neither of whom had Cheika’s back.
Scott Johnson was parachuted in as director of rugby as support, but the headstrong Cheika was always going to consider that a threat.
“I think it’s no secret that I’ve pretty much got no relationship with the CEO and not much with the chairman,” Cheika said in 2019. “Scott’s a lovely bloke and I get on fine with him, but I’m sort of not really into that type of thing.”
Which makes you wonder how it would work if Schmidt stayed on as a consultant when he finishes as Wallabies coach at the end of the Rugby Championship.
The fact that role hasn’t been announced has only added to the theory that Schmidt is hedging his bets.
If All Blacks coach Scott Robertson doesn’t last, you don’t think Schmidt will want the job?
Sins of Sinner
The three-month suspension dished out to world No.1 Jannik Sinnerfor having a banned substance in his system was too light and raises further questions about how the World Anti-Doping Authority goes about its business.
But the constant comparisons with other doping bans aren’t helpful. It’s like comparing apples and bowling balls.
Allan Hird, the father of disgraced Essendon coach James Hird, machinegunned WADA this week in an opinion piece, asking why 34 players were suspended for two years even though they didn’t test positive to a banned substance.
It was a convenient rewriting of history: Essendon players allowed themselves to be injected with a range of substances that weren’t WADA-approved as part of a clandestine program. One said it felt like concrete was being injected into his buttocks.
Allan Hird’s son oversaw that regime alongside notorious sports scientist Stephen Dank.
That’s far different to the case of Sinner, who had the plausible excuse of his physiotherapist rubbing a cream containing clostebol into his back, with receipts from the chemist to prove it.
Sinner accepted he did not use “utmost caution” about the treatment he was receiving. Anti-doping experts seem to agree that “nine to 12 months” would have been a more suitable sanction.
Three months erodes WADA’s already dubious reputation, but the hate directed at Sinner is over the top.
That his legal team was allowed to negotiate an outcome with WADA is allowed under the code and has been for some time.
It’s been funny listening to cashed-up tennis players – including Novak Djokovic – bemoaning that the system is unfair because Sinner has the best legal team at his disposal. Because that never happens in the real world.
California dreaming
Kyrie Irving, Ben Simmons and Patty Mills playing for the Boomers at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles? It’s a long shot but funnier things have happened.
Irving, the nine-time NBA All Star who won gold with Team USA in 2016, says he is “in the process” of switching allegiances.
Whether Team USA or the International Basketball Federation allows this to happen is another thing.
Irving’s interest follows comments from Mills that he was determined to get Simmons, the problem child of Australian basketball, into a Boomers singlet in Los Angeles.
“It’s always been a goal of mine to have Ben in the green and gold for the Olympics and major tournaments,” Mills said.
“I think this can be a great and refreshing start for Ben and I’ll help him in any way I can.”
Many within Australian basketball read that as Mills leaving the door ajar to have a final Olympics appearance at the age of 40.
In Paris, where the team made the quarter-finals, there were simmering cultural issues around the Boomers, mostly relating to the style of play and whether it was Mills’ team or that of Josh Giddey.
The inclusion of Irving could ease that tension while Simmons can finally stop being a talented nomad.
Premier rides high
Who was the most popular figure on course at the LIV event at the Grange Golf Club in Adelaide last weekend? Not Cameron Smith, not Bryson DeChambeau, and not DJ Fisher.
Apparently, it was South Australia Premier Peter Malinauskas, who was almost crash-tackled by delirious fans everywhere he went.
And that was before Malinauskas announced he’d secured the tournament until the 2028, thwarting an ambitious bid from Victoria to snatch it.
Just how much the SA is paying the Saudi-backed league is unclear, although I’m informed it’s a pittance in comparison to the millions LIV spends each year on its lavish tournament.
LIV Golf has won Adelaide and, regardless of what deal is eventually hatched with the PGA Tour, you sense that it has won the war.
With exemptions being given to its players for the British and US opens, and with a key supporter in Donald Trump in the White House, it has the upper hand.
Worth a punt, PVL
Speaking of Trump, ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys made an ambitious bid on Fox News this week for the President to attend the season-opening matches in Vegas next weekend.
In a video message aired on Fox and Friends, V’landys said: “Mr President, we want to introduce you to the toughest game on earth, rugby league, in the world’s sport and entertainment capital, Las Vegas.”
I’ll walk the Strip naked – and sober for a change – if Trump attends the four matches at Allegiant Stadium, but the stunt has generated plenty of media interest.
V’landys says he received more interview requests this week than when he shut down the NRL comp due to Covid in April 2020.
More Coverage
Sam Konstas was summoned to a meeting with NSW coach Greg Shipperd the morning after the teen batting sensation’s less-than-sensational dismissal in the first innings of the Sheffield Shield match against Victoria.