There was no lengthy, intricate or divisive debate when Charlie Bannerman was named to open the batting for the Australians in the fixture that was to become the first “Test” match. There was no discussion as to his age, experience or batting average. There was no media squabble as to his efficacy off the back foot, or how his back lift, slightly towards slip, might be problematical against the new ball, even though they were now released from an overarm height producing “unprecedented pace and bounce”.
Bannerman had no experience of “pathway” cricket, incessant coaching, trampoline bats or free tracksuits, yet he made the first Test ton, and he did it with disciplined, orthodox and patient cricket, making 165 out of Australia’s first innings of 245.
How nice to succeed without the piercing glare of nationwide public speculation.
Sam Konstas, the teenager selected in the Australian Test squad this week, does not have the luxuries of an unheralded path to the top shelf, yet he looks as unfussed as Bannerman did more than 147 years before him. Cricket balls have changed so little in that time that we can assume that Charlie had to “see off” the swinging, hard new ball to prosper when the sheen dulled and the bowlers flagged.
The orthodoxy of opening the batting with caution so that the middle order may flourish is still legitimate today, even though some contemporary players feel the best way to blunt the new ball is to bludgeon it into whimpering submission. That precipitate approach works for a privileged few, as India and Australia are finding out, especially against quality fast bowling on helpful pitches.
Batting at the top of the order in this series has been challenging, and one feels for Nathan McSweeney, who is a definite Test batting prospect, but has been thrust in at No.1 or No.2 thanks to the selectors’ inability to plan carefully and to be unable to make decisions that would be unpopular inside the team.
Sam Konstas’ innings against Western Australia convinced me he’s ready for Test cricket – right now.Credit: Getty Images
Where Bannerman had no benchmark to measure the highest level of opening the batting, there now exists a lengthy history that provides many statistical points. What Charlie did have was his own history of being a specialist opener, something Konstas shares, even if the sample size for young Sam is limited simply because Sam is so young.
At the start of this season, Konstas made a hundred in each inning of the Sheffield Shield game against South Australia, a feat rare for any player, let alone one just turned 19 years old. In that same match, McSweeney occupied the crease doggedly for his own unbeaten hundred to secure South Australia a draw. McSweeney, at 25, and with a longer history at first-class level, then found himself out of position opening the batting in a Test match. Would you pick Nathan Cleary at hooker or Hugh McCluggage at full forward for a grand final? They would do a job of sorts, but lose serious ability to affect a game positively.
Some talents pick themselves; their journey to the top does not require insightful selection. Bannerman and Konstas are two such batsmen. At the conclusion of the Australia under-19 tour to England in 2023, assistant coach Dan Christian crossed my path and said, very clearly (as I had just become a NSW selector), “This kid Konstas, he’s 17, but just put him in the Shield team and leave him there. He’s going to be so good!”
The head coach of that team, Anthony Clark, had seen Sam come up through the NSW pathways system and had made a similar observation already that he was “one of the special ones”.
Konstas knows the game. He has an instinct for the game that is rare in one so raw; an old head on young shoulders that continues into of his mental battles against quality bowling.
Which brings me to the final point of why Konstas is ready for Test cricket now, against any quality of bowling.
In the last Shield game against the title-holding Western Australians he came up against the fastest bowler in Australia at present in Test candidate Lance Morris. The Blues bowled the Sandgropers out in 67 overs on the first day, leaving a nasty last session on a greenish pitch giving bounce and seam. As the weather fates would have it, a bright humid Sydney summer morning turned into a darkening storm-threatened afternoon. As the young Greek opening pair of Konstas and Blake Nikitaras strode to the crease, the SCG lights were needed and Morris gouged his bowling mark, touched his toes at the Paddington end and prepared to launch some rockets.
Sam Konstas has a cool calm head on his shoulders.Credit: Kate Geraghty
This contest required full attention from spectators and players. This was to be a quality meeting between Test aspirants – batting was not going to be easy. Preserving one’s body was as important as preserving one’s wicket. Morris bowled fast. Very fast. Very, very fast at times.
No radar was needed to judge the speed as WA wicketkeeper Josh Inglis kept leaping high to pull down the missiles. The slips were standing so deep that the statue of Yabba looked to be pushing them back towards the fray. They were half hoping for an edge, half not. You could hear the thud of the Kookaburra into the gloves, just like Rodney Marsh hauling in Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson. Konstas dodged, weaved, watched the ball go past and then produced a cover drive of Greg Chappell class. Back-foot drive, front-foot drive, all timing and placement without the physical heft of so many contemporary batsmen.
This continued until the umpires called a halt with NSW no wickets down. Yes, there were a few swishes, a few plays and misses, and next morning – on his way to 88 – the attempted reverse ramp off a 150 km/h good-length ball outside off stump sent coach Greg Shipperd into apoplexy, but the gloomy evening battle lit by the Morris raw flame at the SCG convinced me that this teenager was ready for the big time – right now.
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