Pat Cummins takes pressure off teen debutant Sam Konstas for Boxing Day, Travis Head passes fitness test

As one of only a handful of Australians to have played a Test even younger than Sam Konstas, Aussie skipper Pat Cummins has alleviated some pressure from the teen debutant, while also revealing a positive injury update for his side.

Teen debutant Sam Konstas has been backed to play with impunity as Travis Head passed his Christmas Day fitness test to secure a start on Boxing Day at the MCG.

Despite suffering a quad strain only a week ago, Head will keep his place in the Australian XI to confront India in the cut-throat fourth Test which the Aussies cannot lose if they are to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy this summer.

Australian skipper Pat Cummins confirmed there would be two changes to the side from the drawn third Test in India, with opener Konstas replacing the dropped Nathan McSweeney and Scott Boland returning for the injured Josh Hazlewood.

As one of only a handful of Australians to have played a Test when even younger than Konstas will be on Thursday (19 years and 85 days), Cummins - player of the match on Test debut as an 18-year-old in South Africa 13 years ago - said in many respects the pressure was off Konstas and more on those who had picked him.

“I think you still always want to do well,” Cummins said on Christmas morning at the ‘G.

“I mean, I said this to Sammy the other day, I remember, as an 18-year-old, I was thinking I got a lot more leeway because I was young almost publicly. So almost felt like, if I didn’t have a great game, it wasn’t my fault. It was the selectors’ fault for picking me. I was like, ‘well, they’re the idiots that picked an 18-year-old.’”

All eyes are on teen debutant Sam Konstas, but captain Pat Cummins says the pressure is off him. Picture: Josh Chadwick/Getty Images

Cummins added that he felt like Konstas had the temperament to ensure the extraordinary attention coming his way as a callow opener playing a in a crunch Test on Australian cricket’s grandest stage.

“He’s great. Just, quite relaxed, good fun, happy to…roll along with the jokes and take the mickey out of himself and others. We just always encourage him to be himself. He’s seems relatively like he’s got a good head on his shoulders for a 19-year-old. So we’re there backing him up.”’

Head, by far Australia’s most productive batter so far in the series, has been given the green light to play despite a quad strain sustained on day five of the Gabba Test that had initially been denied by the Aussie camp.

The South Australian did some running on the ‘G on Wednesday morning before getting throw-downs in the nets at what was an optional session, but Cummins said Head would be fit to play, albeit may need to be monitored in the field.

Travis Head is fit to play for Australia. Picture: Josh Chadwick/Getty Images

“Good to go, so he’ll play. Yeah, just ticked off some final things today and yesterday, but yeah, no stress, no kind of worries about injury. He’ll go to the game fully fit. I don’t think you’ll see too much management of him throughout the game…maybe around fielding.”

Spare batter Josh Inglis, the most likely man to replace Head should he have been ruled out, also batted in the nets.

With a forecast high of 39 on Boxing Day, Cummins said the Aussies would take the heat into account before deciding what their strategy will be at the toss.

“I think it’s another layer. So we’ll get to the ground tomorrow. You look at the pitch, you get a bit of a sense of what the day is going to feel like, and then you kind of make a decision from there. So I think it is a factor. You know, last week in Brisbane was hot, which is kind of bit of a tick, Starcy (Mitchell Starc) and I bowled a lot, in the heat and Lyono (Nathan Lyon), and got through it fine. So I don’t think it scares us too much. But yeah, wait and see. 39 can get pretty hot.”

As is custom, players’ families spent time on the ground and in the nets on Christmas morning.