In late afternoon at the MCG, Test cricket was transported back several years or more in time.
Steve Smith stood in firm occupation of the crease, India’s bowling and fielding were sapped of venom, and a Boxing Day crowd of 87,242 sat back comfortably in their seats amid the unmistakable hum of a thousand conversations.
Sam Konstas had a debut for the ages on day one of the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.Credit: AP
The languid nature of proceedings was, paradoxically, the product of one of the most frenetic and memorable morning’s cricket ever seen at this ground on this day. Its author, incredibly, had been Australia’s 19-year-old opening debutant Sam Konstas.
Seasoned spectators spoke of feeling both unable to look away and unable to watch all at once. Devotees of Bazball thought they saw a kindred spirit in action, while other observers glimpsed the spiritual successor to David Warner, who first shook up the game by coshing 89 here in a Twenty20 game against South Africa in 2009.
What Konstas (60 from 65 balls) had done best, by performing the role of batting disruptor that the national selectors had concluded was necessary after Jasprit Bumrah ran roughshod over the top order for three Tests, was to create space for his team. A meaty tally of 6-311 at stumps started with Konstas’ searing heat, before Smith (68 not out) and company slow-cooked for the rest of the day.
This was true first in a literal sense. Konstas’ audacious ramp shots, bold wellies down the ground and sharp pull shots spooked India’s captain Rohit Sharma into spreading his field while the ball was still new.
Third slip went down to the boundary for the ramp, and other outfielders were also posted: they proved less a deterrent than a red rag to a young bull, as Konstas went on to take 18 from Bumrah’s fifth over and 34 in all from his first spell.
In conditions that should have rewarded precision and a relentless attack on the off stump, Konstas had scrambled Indian thinking. Travis Head did something similar in Adelaide and Brisbane, but not against the brand-new ball.
Virat Kohli’s instinctive response to this was to invade Konstas’ personal space, making a beeline for the teenager in a manner that will have to be examined by the match referee Andy Pycroft. As much as India spread their field, Konstas’ innings left them feeling like space was closing in around them.
Konstas has also laid claim to more permanent space for himself in the Australian dressing room. He will play in Sydney and then Sri Lanka, where Konstas will continue to learn rapidly about the art of batting. Unlike his teenaged Test debut predecessor Pat Cummins, there is no risk of a lengthy convalescence with fast-bowling injuries. The horizon stretches ahead of him.
Space, or perhaps more aptly breathing room, was duly created for Usman Khawaja (57), Marnus Labuschagne (72) and Smith. Khawaja tends to score more freely himself when he has a proactive opening partner at the other end. He was the ideal foil for David Warner, and now Konstas’ bold play allowed Khawaja to get into the game with handsome strokes of his own.
Consequently, the spread field for Konstas was a little less scattered for Khawaja, who made the sort of score he needed to maintain control of his own Test-match destiny. Khawaja has stated he wants to carry on to next summer’s Ashes, by which time he will be 39. Opposite Konstas, he has a better-than-even chance of doing so.
By the time Khawaja was dismissed, unusually for him mistiming a pull shot, the ball was more than 44 overs old. Labuschagne and Smith were freed up to play the kind of game with which the 35-year-old former captain was once very familiar.
In 2014-15, on a series of straw-coloured pitches against India, Smith had been virtually unbowlable. Back then, Smith felt that the only way he could get out was by making a mental or technical error, rather than feeling as though the ball and pitch would give the bowler the chance to deliver something beyond his powers to play.
This innings, against that older ball, recalled Smith of old. Teammates have remarked that he is still the best player of the “middle overs” of a Test match in the world, finding gaps, scoring at a decent tempo and frustrating bowlers. All was made more possible by the time and space that Konstas’ innings had wrought.
There were, in the final session, a couple of mental errors made. Labuschagne danced down to Washington Sundar first ball after drinks but failed to get enough elevation on his drive – something Konstas always did – and reproached himself for being caught at mid-off.
It was a waste, underlined by how Head and then Mitchell Marsh fell rapidly thereafter to a refreshed Bumrah (3-72). While Head was due a low score, allowing Bumrah unguarded passage to the top of the off stump, Marsh is losing his grip on the No.6 berth.
That’s another kind of space Konstas has created: the headspace for the national selectors to consider other new options. Beau Webster is Marsh’s back-up in this series and should be considered for Sydney. Cameron Green, too, will return from back surgery in the first half of 2025.
Mitchell Marsh heads back to the rooms after being dismissed.Credit: AP
Cameras panned to the Australian dugout in the final hour, where Konstas chatted happily to teammates and offered a two-fingered acknowledgement of his newfound notoriety. His bravery and skill had not just set up the day for Australia, it had set up the future.
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