As a former teenage debutant, Australian captain Pat Cummins has a better concept than most about the experience new Test opener Sam Konstas has enjoyed this week.
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After taking 6-78 as an 18-year-old at the Wanderers against South Africa in 2011, Cummins said he approached his debut with the approach that he had nothing to lose at the time.
It is a message he has passed on to his fellow New South Welshman ahead of Konstas’s first Test at the MCG on Boxing Day in what shapes as a pivotal match in the Border Gavaskar Trophy against India.
“I think you always want to do well (but) I was saying this to Sam the other day, I remember that as an 18-year-old, I was thinking I got a lot more leeway because I was young,” Cummins said on Christmas Day.
“It 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 who picked an 18-year-old.’
“You’re so young starting out your career (and) it’s Boxing Day. It doesn’t get any better than this, so just enjoy the moment.”
As expected, there will be only two changes to the Australian team, with Konstas replacing the dropped Nathan McSweeney and Scott Boland replacing the injured Josh Hazlewood.
Cummins and the rest of the Australian team spent time frolicking with their families on the MCG on Christmas morning before some, including Konstas, spent time in the nets.
Travis Head was put through a fitness session that included batting, run throughs on the MCG and picking up and playing with his daughter during a lighthearted morning.
While the Indians enjoyed a full day off ahead of the fourth Test, the Australian team were meeting again for an extended lunch ahead of the resumption of a series tied at 1-all.
There are members of the Australian team who are old enough to Konstas’s father and Cummins said it was an intriguing time for the 19-year-old, who will open with Usman Khawaja.
“It’s pretty awesome. I spent a bit of the time wondering why or how I was there (because) it happened so quickly,” he said.
“I just remember being really excited and I think, similar to Sammy this week, there’s a level of naivety that you just want to go out and play like you do when you’re a kid in the backyard. You just want to take the game on and have fun and … not overthink it. So that’s the message of Sam.
“That’s definitely how I felt as an 18-year-old. I was just really excited. And once the kind of game started, you go into game mode and it’s just like any other game.”
The Australian skipper, who is 12 years older than the rookie opener, spent time with Konstas during a domestic one-day fixture earlier in the summer and enjoyed his company.
“He didn’t play, but he was down there, so I spent a bit of time with him (and) he was great,” Cummins said.
“He was quite relaxed and good fun. (He was) happy to … roll along with the jokes and take the mickey out of himself and others. We will just always encourage him to be himself.
“But he seems … like he’s got a good head on his shoulders for a 19-year-old, so we’re there backing him up.”
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The toss on Boxing Day looms as crucial given the heat that is expected on Thursday, though the predicted top temperature had dropped from 40C to a slightly more comfortable 36C.
India has won the two most recent Tests they have played at the MCG but the pitch is now a livelier, pacier proposition. Domestic sides have struggled to post big scores there this year, which suggest the bowler-dominated series will continue in a similar vein in Melbourne.
Cummins and an attack without Hazelwood battled through the heat and humidity at the Gabba in a rain-marred Test last week and the Australian captain believes they are fresh enough to cope with whatever unfolds at the MCG in the Boxing Day Test.
“The pitch looks really good. (It is) quite consistent to what it has been here for the last few years,” he said.
“(There is a) bit of grass coverage and it feels nice and firm. They’ve done a great job here for … probably the last five to six years with their pitches and I suspect (it will be) the same this year.
“(But we will see) how the heat changes it. We’ll get to the ground tomorrow and kind of assess it, but it looks like it is a good wicket.
“(We will) look at the pitch and get a bit of a sense of what the day is going to feel like, and then you kind of make a decision from then. So I think (the heat) is a factor.
“Last week in Brisbane was hot, which is kind of a bit of a tick. Starcy and I bowled a lot in the heat, and (Nathan) Lyon as well, and got through it fine, so I don’t think it scares us too much. But we wait and see. 39 can get pretty hot.”
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