Greg Shipperd mentored an 18-year-old Ricky Ponting and a 19-year-old Sam Konstas, 30 years apart, and believes the NSW teenager is ready to “fill a gap” at the top of the order for Australia’s Test side this summer.
As NSW coach, Shipperd also pointed to West Australian shot maker Josh Inglis as a “smokey” to be part of the squad to face India in Perth next month, as a like-for-like replacement for the very retired David Warner.
Young gun Sam Konstas.Credit: Getty Images
Few voices in Australian cricket are as seasoned or respected as Shipperd’s, and his unique perspective on Konstas and Ponting, having also coached Tasmania when the latter was tearing up records in domestic ranks, is worth consideration. The key difference, to Shipperd, is the quality of competition for spots.
“He was made to wait,” Shipperd said of Ponting’s three-year apprenticeship in Shield cricket. “So whether that made him or he was already made anyway – because he was scoring multiple hundreds across the course of that journey between him not being selected and finally selected I think at 21 [in 1995].
“Ricky was trying to break into a super Australian side at that moment with probably no gaps, and there is a gap in the Australian team in the position [Konstas] bats in at the moment. So he’s worth being heavily in the conversation.
“In Sam, I do see a lot of that skill level and that poise at the crease, shots on both sides of the wicket, in front of the wicket, behind the wicket, I think he’s got what it takes.”
Australia’s squad for the Perth Test is likely to comprise 13 players with one spare bowler and one spare batter, meaning two new batters will be chosen.
This means there will be room for two of Konstas, Inglis and South Australian captain Nathan McSweeney, among leading candidates for inclusion. Michael Neser currently may be shading Scott Boland for the reserve bowling spot in Perth.
Such a squad would enable coach Andrew McDonald and captain Pat Cummins the option of choosing a specialist opener or a middle order player, with Marnus Labuschagne the most likely candidate to move up one spot to partner Usman Khawaja.
Konstas made a hard-nosed 43 in the second innings of a Shield game won comfortably by Victoria over NSW on Wednesday, and Shipperd said he would learn from the hasty charge down the pitch at Todd Murphy that ended his stay.
“In the second innings, I think he started to show everybody again what he’s got,” he said. “He’s poised and balanced, and any time you get through the first 25 overs of a Victorian attack with the new ball, it shows you’ve got something.
“But for a sad error in terms of judgment in that particular ball, I think he showed that he should be in a conversation at least.
“He’s relaxed and focused on learning and focused on what his game is all about in terms of what is working and where the challenges may be. He had a couple of them in this innings where he did a couple of strange things in terms of his choice, but he’s reflecting on those, and we’re really confident he’s got the game if picked.”
Of the 29-year-old Inglis, who is the only player other than Konstas with multiple centuries in the Shield so far this season, Shipperd noted the ability to score runs all around the wicket and a tempo akin to that of Warner.
“I think they’re looking for a style of player at the top of the order, and Josh Inglis may fit that breach,” Shipperd said.
“If you think of the style, he’s a right-handed version of David Warner in terms of someone who wants to get on with the play, strokes all around the wicket and he’s played at the level internationally, and he’s a well-respected player.”
As for Warner’s “comeback”, his former opening partner and Victoria coach Chris Rogers could only laugh.
“I think Davey’s being Davey, and he’s looking for a reaction,” he said. “I had to laugh. I thought maybe I’d come to this press conference and say, ‘I’m ready to go.’”
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