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Allan Border has urged Aussie youngster Sam Konstas to stop trying to play flash shots and instead focus on getting runs on the board if the 20-year-old is to establish himself as a regular face in Australia’s top order.
The New South Wales star set the world alight after scoring 68 runs on his debut against India during this year’s Boxing Day Test.
Despite his electric start and bags of potential, Konstas has struggled to follow that up when recalled to the Test squad, having scored just 95 runs in the four resulting matches he has played.
Even at the start of this year’s Sheffield Shield campaign, the 20-year-old has struggled for a consistent run of form, having produced scores of 18, 40, 53 and 20 in his last four respective Shield matches.
Border believes that there is one issue with the youngster’s game that Konstas needs to address.
‘Sam Konstas, I've only ever seen him play a ramp shot,’ he said to SENQ Breakfast, imploring the batsman to stop with the theatrics and play shots that will score runs.
Sam Konstas has been urged to cut out the theatrics by an Aussie cricket great if he is to find a way back into the Test fold
Former Test captain Allan Border (pictured) has told Konstas to stop ramping shots and play more conventional strokes to get runs on the board
‘Can he cover drive or anything like that?
‘We just haven't seen anything but Konstas constantly trying to play this bloody ramp shot.
‘It's a handy shot to have in the kit bag, but I’d be leaving it there for a while until I've got a few on the board.’
The former Australia captain, who scored 11,174 runs across 156 Tests for the Baggy Greens, believes that if Konstas needs to play a more mature game to get more runs on the board.
‘It's hard to tell people how to bat specifically, but I'd be saying ‘just stop the ramp shot, just give yourself a chance to get yourself in and just conventionally playing,’ Border said.
‘There's lots of ways to make Test match runs. You don't have to ramp up playing the ramp shot.
‘He's good enough from what I'm hearing, but I just haven't seen it yet.’
Konstas is now likely to miss out on a spot in the Test side for this summer’s Ashes series, with older stars Matt Renshaw and Jake Weatherald staking a claim for a spot in the starting line-up.
After his brilliance during last year's Boxing Day Test, Konstas has struggled for consistency and finds himself on the fringes of the team ahead of this summer's Ashes
Questions have been mounting over who could partner Usman Khawaja as Australia's openers but it appears, considering his recent brilliant form at No 3, Marnus Labuschagne (pictured) will not be moved back to the top of the order
Matt Renshaw (right) is one player who seems the most likely candidate to join Khawaja at the top
However, the value of youth is not lost on Border, who believes that Australia need to keep planning for the future, but at the same time, must get the job in front of them done too.
‘It seems to me that the older guys are the ones that are scoring the runs (but) you want to have Konstas and a couple of other younger sort coming through the ranks and doing the business,’ he said.
‘At the moment, it's just more senior guys scoring the runs and you feel like you're going backwards if you do pick those guys.
‘(But) you score the runs, you've got to reward that. It'd be nice to see some early 20-year-olds making a lot more runs.
‘The younger guys are brought up with power hitting in mind - that's the thing that youngsters want to do.
‘Technique sort of goes out the window a little bit.’
The million-dollar question for Australia right now is who will accompany Usman Khawaja at the top of their batting order during this summer’s Ashes series.
Experiments with Marnus Labuschagne in the World Test Championship final did not pay off earlier this year, but interestingly, the Queensland skipper has found a brilliant vein of form batting at No 3 so far this season.
Former captain Border (pictured) scored 11,174 runs across 156 Test matches during his glittering career
Border, meanwhile, believes Konstas can learn a lot from the older generation of players in the squad
Border adds that Jake Weatherald (pictured) may also have played his way into the side after some impressive recent performances
Labuschagne has racked up three centuries in his last three matches, notably scoring 159 in the first innings of his side’s most recent clash against South Australia.
‘There's no one really knocking the door down apart from Labuschagne and he's not really listed as an opener,’ Border said.
‘They might ask him to open and if he's prepared to do it he could probably get through because he's got the technique and the runs on the board to do a good job for us, but I just get the feeling that he is going to be No 3.
‘We need to find some more top-order players.’
Weatherald has not played Test cricket previously, but has thrown himself into contention for a call-up with some solid scores during his side’s last two Shield outings and Border praised him for how the 30-year-old has worked out his game.
Renshaw, meanwhile, has been called up to Australia’s ODI squad for their series against India and came out to hit an unbeaten 21 during last Sunday’s win.
‘Usman is a lock-in for the first couple of Tests at least, then I'd be going Renshaw. I just think that he might be the right choice,’ Border said.
‘Weatherald's doing a good job but I don't know; it’s a tough one because the top 3 is very, very important.’
