Former Australian fast bowler Stuart Clark has revealed that Sam Konstas did not quite know what he was doing during his whirlwind entrance to the Test arena in Melbourne and Sydney.
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Speaking on ABC Radio, Clark, who knows the 19-year-old well from their time together at Sutherland Cricket Club in Sydney grade cricket, recalled an encounter with Konstas at the SCG which provided a stunning insight into the opening batter’s mindset.
“I went up to him, I threw a bottle at him because he was too busy swanning about, so I went up to him and I basically said ‘oi, what are you doing?’,” Clark said.
“And he said ‘I don’t really know’.”
Konstas was widely ridiculed for his dismissal in Australia’s successful run chase in Sydney as he skied an attempted slog off Prasidh Krishna to be sent on his way for 22 off 17 balls.
He was also scrutinised at times for his interactions with the crowd, where he often riled them up at both the MCG and SCG, and Clark believes Konstas may reflect on his antics during his introduction to Test cricket with some embarrassment down the track.
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But the NSW Cricket board member and selector also accepts that Konstas is simply just a teenager lapping up every aspect of living out his dream.
“I looked into his eyes and he’s so caught up in the atmosphere of what he’s doing that I think he’s just on autopilot and he’s loving every single minute of it,” Clark said.
“We talked about this a bit in Melbourne, I think he’ll look back on this in ten years time and go, ‘oh wow, that’s a bit interesting’.
“But he’s loving every minute of it, that’s what I took out of it.
“Pulled from pillar to post. Everyone was screaming for him. The media were trying to get a hold of him. .
“I think he’s just caught in the moment of how good Test cricket is, how good is international cricket?
“He’s just on the wave at the moment and the game was in fast forward.”
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Konstas’ cavalier approach with the bat first caught the public eye when he smashed the fastest ever half century by a Sydney Thunder player, from just 20 balls on his BBL debut, after earlier in December blasting a 90-ball century for the Prime Minister’s XI against India.
But it was two hundreds in the same Sheffield Shield match against South Australia in October that first put him on the radar for national honours.
In those knocks, it Konstas’ classical forward defence, flick of the pads and high elbow when punching the ball down the ground or through the off side that had tongues wagging rather than the ramps, reverse ramps or charges down the wicket at Jasprit Bumrah that were the trademarks of his Boxing Day half-century on debut.
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He is clearly more than a one-trick pony, and former Australian batter Simon Katich believes a more traditional approach will be the way forward as his ultra-aggressive tactics were a clear plan from the Australian team hierarchy to combat player of the series Bumrah.
“He’s obviously got a lot of talent which we’ve seen glimpses of what he’s capable of with his stroke play,” Katich said on SEN Radio.
“But from what I can gather talking to some of the NSW boys … he doesn’t always play like this. So it’s been a bit of a shock to hear that this is completely different to how he normally goes about it.
“I just wonder whether he was given the brief to disrupt Bumrah and the Indians and just go out there with intent and (the mindset that) whatever happens, happens.”
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Katich argued that a more experienced player in the top order could not have taken on that role because the jeopardy is too great.
Konstas’ fellow opener Usman Khawaja is nearing the end of his Test career, Marnus Labuschagne had struggles of his own before scoring three crucial half-centuries in Adelaide and Melbourne, and Steve Smith found his way back to his best with centuries at the Gabba and MCG.
There needed to be a spanner in the works who was not risking their own future.
“Because there’s a lot more freedom when you’re 19 knowing that if you don’t get it right the first time around, you can go back, work on your game and then fight your way back in,” Katich said.
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“You can’t expect that from a more experienced player that might get dropped for the last time.
“It’s harder for the batsmen to try and take the game on, and long-term it’s hard to do that at Test level when the ball is moving away like it is.
“Even in spinning conditions, that will be the next challenge for him in Sri Lanka.”
