Sam Konstas was a Boxing Day hero, today he can barely make a run. Where to now for cricket's golden boy?

Sydney Morning Herald

20 hours ago

'I think everything's up in the air at the moment,' former Australian Test captain Mark Taylor, who presented Konstas his baggy green on Boxing Day last year, told this masthead. 'That's for Sam and Usman [Khawaja] because they both haven't set the world on fire.'
The numbers are jarring for a player nicknamed 'Pinter' — a pint-sized Punter (Ricky Ponting) — by some in NSW cricket circles.
Scores of 60, 8, 23, 22, 3, 5, 25, 0, 17 and 0 leave Konstas with a Test average of 16.3 — the lowest ever by an Australian opener from as many innings.
'You can see the effects of Test cricket affected him mentally,' said former NSW and Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin. 'Test cricket's a tough place. Mentally, if things aren't going your way, there's nowhere to hide. His confidence would have taken a big hit.'
How did it get to this point? Where to from here?
'We've got to be really, really careful,' said a former Australian cricketer, speaking on the condition of anonymity. 'He's such a young kid. I feel sorry for him.'
A rapid rise and even sharper fall
A little over 13 weeks before Konstas walked out to bat on Test debut at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against the best fast bowler on the planet, India's Jasprit Bumrah, he was bowled by a 15-year-old fourth grader in a Sydney Premier Cricket match.
Konstas, playing for Sutherland's under-21s Poidevin-Gray team, had already blasted what ended up being a match-winning hundred, yet was dismissed by a young Northern Districts bowler by the name of Rubeindranath Gobinath.
The anecdote isn't to crticise Konstas, but to highlight how quickly his star rose. Some believe that hundred, albeit against teenagers, kick-started his season. No one could have predicted he'd be playing for Australia by December.
Professional sport is full of sliding door moments and Konstas had several late last year.
Konstas was selected to bat at No.6 in a NSW trial match early last season. He then made 25 and 8 in a second XI game for NSW.
Only when Steve Smith didn't return for NSW - Konstas thought Australia's No.4 was going to be playing the match - did the teenager get a start at the top of the order in the Sheffield Shield.
He responded with twin hundreds at Cricket Central in Sydney and became the name on everyone's lips.
Even then, had any number of more experienced found form - Cameron Bancroft, Marcus Harris or Matt Renshaw - Konstas probably wouldn't have debuted at the MCG. An audacious century at Manuka Oval in a Prime Minister's XI game against the touring Indians only added to the intrigue and hype.
If Nathan McSweeney had made one reasonable score against India, Konstas wouldn't have played in Melbourne. He was brought in as a 'disruptor', in the words of head coach Andrew McDonald.
Had one of Bumrah's seaming deliveries caught his edge on Boxing Day, his debut 60 would not have happened.
'It was not as if he made huge scores,' Taylor said. 'It was the fact he made the papers for a different reason. It gave him a spotlight he probably didn't need.
'Normally, you try and make your way in quietly and then assert your authority once you become a bit more of a senior player. That didn't happen to Sam. It's a lot to handle. I think he's now trying to, quite rightfully, backpedal a bit and settle into the side.'
Haddin believes the uniqueness of the debut shaped perceptions.
'I think that might have played a role in the hype around what everyone expected in Test cricket,' Haddin said. 'I don't think we'll ever see a debut quite like that. What comes with that was a lot of outside pressure and expectations.'
In October, Konstas became the third-youngest player to make centuries in both innings of a Shield game, behind Ponting and Archie Jackson.
Then, his first-class average was 50.25. After another 28 first-class innings, it's now 30.34.
'I think he's still probably trying to work out exactly the right way to play,' Taylor said. 'He hasn't been helped [in the West Indies] by not being given a decent pitch to play a normal, orthodox innings.'
Much has been made of conditions in the Caribbean. Australia anticipated dry wickets and the chance to play two spinners. Instead, all three surfaces — in Barbados, Grenada and Kingston — offered exaggerated seam movement.
'That cricket was borderline impossible to play at some stages,' Australian head coach Andrew McDonald said this week on SEN.
According to data seen by the Australian team, the average seam movement in the third Test was 0.84 degrees, which is extreme. Of the 670 Test matches where data has been kept on ball movement, Australia's latest rout of the West Indies was the 15th most for seam in history.
Konstas' strike rate for the series was 33.11 and he was caught between batting styles.
'If you look at the contrasting techniques of the way the openers went about it, some tried to nut it out, work hard and battle through. You end up making 20 off 100 balls and still nick one anyway,' Taylor said. 'I think Sam wasn't sure whether to try that method or try, dare I say it, the Boxing Day method and some different shots.'
There have been other changes. Since becoming a household name, Konstas has increased his social media presence.
'I don't want to get distracted,' Konstas told cricket.com.au in February last year at the under-19 Cricket World Cup. 'I don't really need it – I just try to live in the moment and not be glued to my phone.'
Konstas now updates his Instagram regularly with brand endorsements and behind-the-scenes glimpses to his 286,000 followers. It would be difficult to not soak up the adulation and added attention.
A shirtless walk down a Barbados beach sampling local fish burgers before the first Test went viral.
According to those close to Konstas, he is still in good spirits and eager for a reset before the Sheffield Shield season. His demeanour on tour certainly did not change as the runs dried up. He worked hard in the nets, desperate to turn his fortunes around.
It just didn't translate to the middle.
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'I think you can see at the end of the tour, it was all mental,' Haddin said. 'He's never been exposed to any pressure like this before. He wouldn't have gone on a run like this in any of his cricket, like in junior cricket, without being able to dominate an attack.
'What we've got to remember is the kid's 19. He's only had half a season of first-class cricket. This would have been a huge learning curve for him … which is a good thing. The learnings he'll take will be enormous.'
What about the Ashes? Konstas received a strong endorsement from Ricky Ponting this week, who said he wouldn't change Australia's top three.
'I think he can make the Ashes,' Taylor said. 'He's a young fella. There's no doubt he'll be feeling down after the series, but Australia won 3-0. If he can make some runs in the first couple of Shield games, I think he still can play.'