Sam Konstas: Are you on board with him?

[DIG]

Considering how bogged down the Aust senior players were with Bumrah, kudos to the young fella for upping the tempo and trying to put some pressure back onto Bumrah.

When India tour this year England will totally look to get under their skins and not let Bumrah pin them down. They’d attack him anyway of course.

But they must have been so bemused seeing how rattled the Indians all were by a 19 year old throwing his bat around and giving a bit of chat. The template’s there now.

 

[t_94]

No you clearly don't understand the concept of a coach sticking up for his players.

Andrew McDonald is doing his job. "Maybe" the ICC should do theirs, i.e. stop being chickenshit and appropriately sanction the India sooks for their ongoing flagrant Code of Conduct breaches.

The sooks that your idols at Cricket Australia have brown nosed for their own financial gain to the overall detriment of the sport.

 

[Coops93]

Some of the pearl clutching in the media and commentary is ludicrous.

The only member of our top order to get the best of Bumrah over the course of the summer. More than happy to back him in rather than doing the kind of musical chairs we saw post-Hayden and Katich/Watson. Particularly given we're getting one more summer (at best) out of Usman.

He was also the only one to actually try and put the pressure back on Bumrah instead of just pray they can see him off - aside from Head I suppose but in my mind I was thinking inside the top 4.

The other thing is, this isn't the finished product. He's 19, any technical deficiencies still have a good 10 years to fix up before you could write it off as his downfall.

Further, as others have said, this isn't exactly how he bats normally in any case. He clearly came in here with the gameplan to disrupt the bowlers, and for better or worse he did that. I highly doubt that's how his career is going to look long term. Maybe in the odd game or situation against a bowler who's getting the better of things, but broadly he bats properly.

Even the behaviour stuff I think overall was a net positive. You could see just how much his chat was frustrating the Indians when they were batting, to the point where when they're supposed to be playing for a draw they're trying to smash the ball into him which led to multiple plays and misses and potential chances. Whenever Konstas was around they were completely rattled.

Having said that, I don't like it long term. For now it's a 19 yr old kid having fun and being a bit silly, but I'd like for that to be reigned in. I just think in this specific situation, against this team, it wasn't the worst thing in the world to rustle the cages of the team that think they're the mighty princes of the sport - with the ultimate self-absorbed and self-entitled king of the game the most rustled of the lot.

 

[Coops93]

No you clearly don't understand the concept of a coach sticking up for his players.

Andrew McDonald is doing his job. "Maybe" the ICC should do theirs, i.e. stop being chickenshit and appropriately sanction the India sooks for their ongoing flagrant Code of Conduct breaches.

Firstly, I don't think any other country would have responded in the way India did. They clearly have a sense of entitlement and knowledge that they are treated differently. More specifically, could you imagine the response globally if Aus did the exact same thing to Jaiswal for example? My God there'd be a royal inquiry into how that could be allowed to happen.

Secondly, which is closely related to the first, India know they can do whatever they want and act however they want, no sanctions will come. Or if they do they're an absolute joke and everyone laughs at it.

McDonald calling that out isn't an issue. Any opposition captain, coach and media would be launching into the Australian team if we did the same.

 

[PhatBoy]

He was also the only one to actually try and put the pressure back on Bumrah instead of just pray they can see him off - aside from Head I suppose but in my mind I was thinking inside the top 4.

The other thing is, this isn't the finished product. He's 19, any technical deficiencies still have a good 10 years to fix up before you could write it off as his downfall.

Further, as others have said, this isn't exactly how he bats normally in any case. He clearly came in here with the gameplan to disrupt the bowlers, and for better or worse he did that. I highly doubt that's how his career is going to look long term. Maybe in the odd game or situation against a bowler who's getting the better of things, but broadly he bats properly.

Even the behaviour stuff I think overall was a net positive. You could see just how much his chat was frustrating the Indians when they were batting, to the point where when they're supposed to be playing for a draw they're trying to smash the ball into him which led to multiple plays and misses and potential chances. Whenever Konstas was around they were completely rattled.

Having said that, I don't like it long term. For now it's a 19 yr old kid having fun and being a bit silly, but I'd like for that to be reigned in. I just think in this specific situation, against this team, it wasn't the worst thing in the world to rustle the cages of the team that think they're the mighty princes of the sport - with the ultimate self-absorbed and self-entitled king of the game the most rustled of the lot.

Like anything it will always look a bit better if it comes off in any capacity.

Ticks: he made a score first up
India carried on a bit
Australia won both tests he played

Crosses: he was out relatively quickly three times
He didn’t really know when to rein it in on a couple of occasions
He/they were up against a side that by that stage probably weren’t showing a whole heap.

That Australia dominated means it gets viewed at least reasonably positively.

If he gets picked in Sri Lanka and Jayasuriya comes out and takes 25 wickets for next to nothing and Australia look stupid and he’s doing the same thing, or SA pick Rabada, Burger, Nortje and Jansen and get a juicy wicket and the match becomes a shootout (probably their best chance of winning the final given their inferior batting to Australia’s) and he’s giving it the biggen suddenly it looks a bit less wise

 

[Soggy2112]

The criticism of his behaviour is also odd.

What has he actually done wrong?

With the exception of the Bumrah incident, I don’t think anything he’s done has been abusive, disrespectful or inappropriate. Even in that, what Bumrah did was far more confrontational and inappropriate on a cricket field, and Konstas was still mature enough and in control to just walk off without saying or doing anything back.

Outside of that, really, he’s just been a pest who has clearly gotten under the skin of the Indians, which is hardly a bad thing. He’s remained calm in multiple instances where his much more experienced opponents have crossed the line.

 

[Teen Wolf]

The sooks that your idols at Cricket Australia have brown nosed for their own financial gain to the overall detriment of the sport.

Now is definitely the time for another mindless "the game is in crisis" post.

 

[ABAB]

He was also the only one to actually try and put the pressure back on Bumrah instead of just pray they can see him off - aside from Head I suppose but in my mind I was thinking inside the top 4.

The other thing is, this isn't the finished product. He's 19, any technical deficiencies still have a good 10 years to fix up before you could write it off as his downfall.

Further, as others have said, this isn't exactly how he bats normally in any case. He clearly came in here with the gameplan to disrupt the bowlers, and for better or worse he did that. I highly doubt that's how his career is going to look long term. Maybe in the odd game or situation against a bowler who's getting the better of things, but broadly he bats properly.

Even the behaviour stuff I think overall was a net positive. You could see just how much his chat was frustrating the Indians when they were batting, to the point where when they're supposed to be playing for a draw they're trying to smash the ball into him which led to multiple plays and misses and potential chances. Whenever Konstas was around they were completely rattled.

Having said that, I don't like it long term. For now it's a 19 yr old kid having fun and being a bit silly, but I'd like for that to be reigned in. I just think in this specific situation, against this team, it wasn't the worst thing in the world to rustle the cages of the team that think they're the mighty princes of the sport - with the ultimate self-absorbed and self-entitled king of the game the most rustled of the lot.

I think India rustle their own cage with how Kohli reacted and then Bumrah and the others followed his action as he is "King" Kohli. All Konstas did was started to bat aggressively since he was struggling to score runs.

 

[Coops93]

Like anything it will always look a bit better if it comes off in any capacity.

Ticks: he made a score first up
India carried on a bit
Australia won both tests he played

Crosses: he was out relatively quickly three times
He didn’t really know when to rein it in on a couple of occasions
He/they were up against a side that by that stage probably weren’t showing a whole heap.

That Australia dominated means it gets viewed at least reasonably positively.

If he gets picked in Sri Lanka and Jayasuriya comes out and takes 25 wickets for next to nothing and Australia look stupid and he’s doing the same thing, or SA pick Rabada, Burger, Nortje and Jansen and get a juicy wicket and the match becomes a shootout (probably their best chance of winning the final given their inferior batting to Australia’s) and he’s giving it the biggen suddenly it looks a bit less wise

I don't mark those as crosses in a couple of them. Neutral at worst imo.

He scored the most runs of all top 4s from either side at the SCG on what was a hard deck for batting and in the 2nd innings especially the fast start was important. It would've been nice to get more, but it got us out of the blocks and into the chase before India could settle - and they were obviously unsettled.

 

[PhatBoy]

I don't mark those as crosses in a couple of them. Neutral at worst imo.

He scored the most runs of all top 4s from either side at the SCG on what was a hard deck for batting and in the 2nd innings especially the fast start was important. It would've been nice to get more, but it got us out of the blocks and into the chase before India could settle - and they were obviously unsettled.

People are always going to accuse me of saying this because they think I have an anti-Australian agenda.

I don’t like the Aussie team that’s no secret but it’s just a simple fact: if it was Zac Crawley or Ben Duckett that got 20 in a few overs and got out in that Sydney game I doubt anyone would say ‘they did better than anyone else in the top 4’ or Warner in previous years for that matter. Or one of the numerous half witted West Indian openers my team has seen come and go.

It’s still 20.

He made them think about what they were doing I don’t doubt that for one second. I’m just a bit reserved about the levels of praise relative to the output

 

[Coops93]

People are always going to accuse me of saying this because they think I have an anti-Australian agenda.

I don’t like the Aussie team that’s no secret but it’s just a simple fact: if it was Zac Crawley or Ben Duckett that got 20 in a few overs and got out in that Sydney game I doubt anyone would say ‘they did better than anyone else in the top 4’ or Warner in previous years for that matter. Or one of the numerous half witted West Indian openers my team has seen come and go.

It’s still 20.

He made them think about what they were doing I don’t doubt that for one second. I’m just a bit reserved about the levels of praise relative to the output

I didn't praise or say they were amazing, just neutral at worst. In context they were positive contributions, but they could/should have been more given he got in etc.

 

[Teen Wolf]

I can't understand why Bazball duds are criticised for losing Test matches, whereas Konstas has never been criticised for losing Test matches. Not fair! Double standards!

 

[Carn The Berries]

No you clearly don't understand the concept of a coach sticking up for his players.

Andrew McDonald is doing his job. "Maybe" the ICC should do theirs, i.e. stop being chickenshit and appropriately sanction the India sooks for their ongoing flagrant Code of Conduct breaches.

I would sincerely hope that if McDonald is actually doing his job he'd sit down with Sam and tell him that there is a time and a place for it, which isn't from the non-strikers end just before the last ball of the day... To the best bowler in the world.

He was well within his rights to stick up for himself when Kohli bumped him. The stuff in Sydney was ridiculous and unnecessary.

I would take him to SL (and play him). I'd be very interested to see how he goes away from all the media hyperbole that he had to endure at home, against an opposition who are going to be far less antagonistic.

As to how he's been playing, it's hard to assess without knowing what the directive (if any) has been from the dressing room. I don't think the unholy slogging he displayed in the second dig is sustainable at test level. If he's being told to do that then ok, but come out and tell us that. His FC record suggests that this is "uncharacteristic" compared to how he has previously made his runs. I sincerely hope that is the case.

 

[PhatBoy]

I can't understand why Bazball duds are criticised for losing Test matches, whereas Konstas has never been criticised for losing Test matches. Not fair! Double standards!

Yes because that’s the discussion being had and you’ve broken it down to a micro-level.

The Bazzball duds have gone 21-12-1 from previously 2-11-5 before they started playing that way.

At what point are people going to get it


Their tactic has worked perfectly fine by comparison to most teams. At any rate the point being made was a guy made 20 a couple of times using an approach that other batsmen use, and when they use it, even when they win and they get more runs, they get criticised for it and as such the question was posed, what would the assessment be if the same outcome was achieved by those batsmen who are the usual target of said criticism.

 

[Carn The Berries]

The criticism of his behaviour is also odd.

What has he actually done wrong?

With the exception of the Bumrah incident, I don’t think anything he’s done has been abusive, disrespectful or inappropriate. Even in that, what Bumrah did was far more confrontational and inappropriate on a cricket field, and Konstas was still mature enough and in control to just walk off without saying or doing anything back.

Outside of that, really, he’s just been a pest who has clearly gotten under the skin of the Indians, which is hardly a bad thing. He’s remained calm in multiple instances where his much more experienced opponents have crossed the line.

It's knowing the right time to fly the flag. There was absolutely nothing to be achieved on Day 1, except to p*** off the best bowler in the world. He acted like a bit of a tool... And the Indians responded in kind when they knocked over Usman. IMO it was a d***head draw, they cancel each other out.

Personally, I don't think McDonald did him any favours by having a go at the Indians... He was the instigator in that skirmish (as opposed to Melbourne).

 

[Teen Wolf]

I would sincerely hope that if McDonald is actually doing his job he'd sit down with Sam and tell him that there is a time and a place for it, which isn't from the non-strikers end just before the last ball of the day... To the best bowler in the world.

He was well within his rights to stick up for himself when Kohli bumped him. The stuff in Sydney was ridiculous and unnecessary.

Time and place for what? He told Bumrah from 20 metres away that Khawaja wasn't ready... oooh the nerve of the kid. So in your face.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Yes because that’s the discussion being had and you’ve broken it down to a micro-level.

The Bazzball duds have gone 21-12-1 from previously 2-11-5 before they started playing that way.

At what point are people going to get it


Their tactic has worked perfectly fine by comparison to most teams. At any rate the point being made was a guy made 20 a couple of times using an approach that other batsmen use, and when they use it, even when they win and they get more runs, they get criticised for it and as such the question was posed, what would the assessment be if the same outcome was achieved by those batsmen who are the usual target of said criticism.

5 teams above them in the WTC, only 3 below. So no, their tactics haven't worked fine compared to most teams, and you suck at counting.

 

[Carn The Berries]

Time and place for what? He told Bumrah from 20 metres away that Khawaja wasn't ready... oooh the nerve of the kid. So in your face.

What did it have to do with him? Khawaja was dealing with it, as was the umpire. Absolutely nothing worse than being the striking batsman and your teammate decides to pick a fight at the other end.

He was well within his rights to have a crack at Kohli, and I applaud him for doing so. But you have to understand when to pull the trigger. And not have your coach try and make it the other team's fault when it backfires and they let you know about it.

 

[PhatBoy]

5 teams above them in the WTC, only 3 below. So no, their tactics haven't worked fine compared to most teams, and you suck at counting.

Actually you’re right. I do suck at counting. I’ve left off one of their victories. Silly me.

Brendon McCullum took over as coach in May, 2022.

Since then they have played 35 tests, winning twenty TWO, not twenty one, losing 12 and drawing one. Which they probably would have won if it didn’t get rained out.


I’m not really sure what you think their stance on the WTC was when they completely revamped their style was, considering the WTC had only just begun and no one really knew much about it and Australia themselves didn’t seem to care too much.

But there’s a fair chance that they were probably just happy to try and win some games.

It’s funny how when NZ were winning the WTC it was a bit laughed at, the ridiculous inequalities in the draw ignored, the lack of home-and-away balance, all of that - they were huge issues. Actual rankings were important but the WTC wasn’t

Now suddenly that doesn’t seem to matter.

The team ranked equal third - and they will probably pass India soon to go into second - is viewed as hopeless because they are in seventh on the table of that tournament.

 

[Outshined]

Now that the dust's settled a little, on the balance of things he was a decent selection.

You really can't tread water against new-ball Bumrah, especially on a pitch with any kind of juice. The best technical batsmen we've seen over the last few decades would struggle against the grenades he was sending down. Phenomenal bowler.

Konstas was clearly instructed to come out firing and score quickly, but struggled to get the balance right at times. That's all good, he's only ~15 games into his first class career and will undoubtedly have to go back to the Shield at some point to refine his game. He's still a fantastic prospect and one we should be thrilled to have unearthed given the average age of our top 6.

 

[Teen Wolf]

What did it have to do with him? Khawaja was dealing with it, as was the umpire. Absolutely nothing worse than being the striking batsman and your teammate decides to pick a fight at the other end.

He was well within his rights to have a crack at Kohli, and I applaud him for doing so. But you have to understand when to pull the trigger. And not have your coach try and make it the other team's fault when it backfires and they let you know about it.

Picking a fight = charging at somebody and screaming in their face. That's what the India sooks did, not Konstas.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Actually you’re right. I do suck at counting. I’ve left off one of their victories. Silly me.

Brendon McCullum took over as coach in May, 2022.

Since then they have played 35 tests, winning twenty TWO, not twenty one, losing 12 and drawing one. Which they probably would have won if it didn’t get rained out.


I’m not really sure what you think their stance on the WTC was when they completely revamped their style was, considering the WTC had only just begun and no one really knew much about it and Australia themselves didn’t seem to care too much.

But there’s a fair chance that they were probably just happy to try and win some games.

It’s funny how when NZ were winning the WTC it was a bit laughed at, the ridiculous inequalities in the draw ignored, the lack of home-and-away balance, all of that - they were huge issues. Actual rankings were important but the WTC wasn’t

Now suddenly that doesn’t seem to matter.

The team ranked equal third - and they will probably pass India soon to go into second - is viewed as hopeless because they are in seventh on the table of that tournament.

NZ were handed a spot in the first WTC final because of over rates. That was the farce, nothing to do with the fixture.

If Konstas ever plays in a losing Test team, he'll cop 10x more criticism than the English losers ever have, because Australian cricket isn't about moral victories and celebrating fourth place in the ICC rankings.

 

[Carn The Berries]

Picking a fight = charging at somebody and screaming in their face. That's what the India sooks did, not Konstas.

Is that you Andrew McDonald? There are plenty of people who have played at the top level who have said his behaviour (in that particular instance) was unnecessary. They (the Indians) gave a bit back and we started crying about it.

 

[PhatBoy]

NZ were handed a spot in the first WTC final because of over rates. That was the farce, nothing to do with the fixture.

If Konstas ever plays in a losing Test team, he'll cop 10x more criticism than the English losers ever have, because Australian cricket isn't about moral victories and celebrating fourth place in the Test rankings.

Who’s celebrating anything?

Why are you arguing a point no one has made? They have the same rating as SA - 105. I dare say India’s will drop after this series. So they will probably go past them without having to do anything regardless.

I like how you’ve written that line about Konstas as though the English guys don’t get criticised

You would swear blind they have lost every match they’ve ever played under McCullum to listen to both the media here and half the posters on this forum.

In reality they’ve lost two series - one in India where everyone loses anyway aside from, ironically, NZ.

Every single time one of them gets out playing an attacking shot they cop it. Just like Sam has and will, they do too.

Australian cricket isn’t about moral victories? They celebrated a draw pretty hard last year.
It’s about over-using jokes a know that.

I thought other countries with the sandpaper schtick got old quick. If this is still around in 7 years god help us all.

 

[t_94]

Now is definitely the time for another mindless "the game is in crisis" post.

Prefer a half - witted James Sutherland/ CA Stan post from yourself.