The batting guru whose coaching helped Michael Clarke and Philip Hughes break into the Test arena has warned that picking Sam Konstas for an international debut against India could do the youngster’s career more harm than good.
On a day when Nathan McSweeney made 39 for Australia A to complicate the debate over who should open with Usman Khawaja in the first Test against India in Perth later this month, highly regarded batting coach Neil D’Costa has aired concerns about arguably Australian cricket’s brightest talent.
“He could be a good player for 100 Tests. If they put him in now, he might only play 10 Tests,” D’Costa told this masthead.
D’Costa has worked with Konstas on his batting in the past but the young New South Welshman is now mentored by Tahmid Islam, a former Bangladesh first-class player, and 59-Test star Shane Watson.
After back-to-back Sheffield Shield centuries for NSW against South Australia last month, Konstas’ name was thrown up as a potential replacement for David Warner.
The 19-year-old then made scores of 2 and 43 against Victoria before a duck for Australia A on Thursday in Mackay.
Young gun Sam Konstas.Credit: Getty Images
D’Costa worked closely with Clarke for years before he made a Test century on debut as a 23-year-old against India in 2004. Five years later, Hughes scored two centuries in his second Test against South Africa after being mentored by D’Costa.
Eager to point out that Konstas will develop into a fine player, D’Costa said the obsession with getting the teenager into the Test team so soon was “ridiculous”. Konstas is taking part in his seventh first-class fixture and has made 457 runs at 41.
“He’s another player who has shown great potential but let him play two years of Sheffield Shield,” D’Costa said. “Let him understand the grounds [in Australia], understand the flows [of the game], understand himself and understand the game. If he’s good enough, he will get the runs, and he’ll be in [the team in] a little bit.
“It’s just ridiculous [talk of rushing him in]. How’s Prithvi Shaw going? I could see his weaknesses before he went in.”
D’Costa, who is Marnus Labuschagne’s batting coach, believes former India Test player Shaw is a cautionary tale of throwing a youngster in too early. After making 134 on debut in 2018, Shaw has played just four more Tests, with scores of 0 and 4 in his last outing in 2020 against Australia in Adelaide.
Konstas is likely to get another bat on Saturday after India A ended day two on 2-208 in their second innings, 120 runs ahead of Australia A.
McSweeney added 10 runs to his overnight total of 29 before he was caught in the gully driving at a ball outside the off stump. It came after Cameron Bancroft made a duck and Marcus Harris contributed just 17 runs on a miserable day opening day for potential Test candidates.
“I thought he looked absolutely polished,” said former Australian skipper Tim Paine on SEN Radio of McSweeney before his dismissal. “He looked organised and his defence was fantastic on a really difficult wicket.”
Friday marked the start of another Sheffield Shield round but many of the country’s national representatives were either getting ready for Monday’s one-day international against Pakistan, featuring in Mackay for Australia A or, in the case of Nathan Lyon, resting for the first Test of the Border–Gavaskar Trophy on November 22.
At Cricket Central in Sydney’s west, former NSW skipper Kurtis Patterson marked a return to the Blues team with a fine knock of 91. The home side slumped to 4-26 early on day one but fought their way to all out 239 courtesy of 88 from Jack Edwards. Queensland were 0-36 at stumps, with Usman Khawaja (19) and Matthew Renshaw (14) unbeaten.
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