da realsbet： Australia coach Andrew McDonald said it was “too early” to judge Konstas following his 25 and 0 in Grenada
da 888： Andrew McGlashan08-Jul-20250:31
Watch – Konstas chops on for a duck
Australia coach Andrew McDonald saw small signs of encouragement from Sam Konstas in the second Test against West Indies but has indicated there will “great opportunity” for players to push their case for Ashes selection early in the domestic season and in Australia A matches.Konstas made 25 in the first innings in Grenada before following that with a duck during a brief period of batting late on the second day. He will play the final match at Sabina Park, the ground’s first day-night Test, which provides an opportunity to finish on a high and leave himself near the head of the selection queue for the home Ashes series later in the year.”Four games in, eight innings, it’s probably early for anyone to judge, really,” McDonald said of Konstas’ early Test career. “I think the challenges in Test cricket aren’t necessarily always your skill level or your technique. It’s dealing with the moments, the pressure, all the other things that externally come with that as well. He’s a player finding his feet in the environment.Related
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“[It was] a small step forward in the last game with that first innings. I thought the way he structured up his first 20-odd balls, he had the positive intent, he was moving a lot better compared to the game before where it looked like he was stuck in the middle and didn’t know whether to play a shot and it was either ultra-aggressive or ultra-defensive.”Konstas will likely feature in the four-day matches on the Australia A tour of India in late September before being available for the opening Sheffield Shield matches in early October with four rounds expected before the start of the Ashes.”There’s great opportunity in domestic cricket at the start of the season, and there always is leading into any Test series,” McDonald said. “We saw with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy last year, there was opportunity for players to put their hand up there. There’s also Australia A [against Sri Lanka A] in the Top End [Darwin] at the moment, so we’re watching that closely…so it’s really about the opportunity that presents.”First and foremost, we concentrate on what’s right here, right now. Everyone will be speculating around who can come in, what possibilities are, but we’re confident the players that we’ve got here can do the job.”Prior to the tour, McDonald said it may not be possible to draw huge relevance from this tour to the Ashes and it is a view he maintains despite it having been pace-bowler dominated rather than seeing a significant role for spin.”There’s been a lot of variable bounce and sideways movement, so it’s probably not similar to Australia,” he said. “Maybe some surfaces will be. I think Perth potentially, when it does crack a little bit, it can go up and down and a little bit sideways. But I think the first four rounds of Shield cricket will draw a better connection to the Ashes than what we’re seeing here.”What we are seeing here, though, is people getting exposed at Test level, and within that exposure, the mental challenges of Test cricket are real.”Usman Khawaja has been troubled from around the wicket•Associated Press
The continued scrutiny of the top-order was eased somewhat by Cameron Green’s half-century, but is countered by the struggles of Usman Khawaja. McDonald was keen to stress that Australia have ended as comfortable winners of both Tests. West Indies crumbled in both second innings – facing just 34.3 overs in Grenada and 33.4 in Barbados – having been on even terms after two days.”For every failure in the top-order, the middle-order’s been able to get us out of those situations and vice versa,” he said. “We’ve had times when the top-order’s prospered and the middle potentially hasn’t delivered what you’d probably expect.”Ultimately the game of cricket’s matching the bowling with the batting. At the moment we’re doing that. We’re finding ways through it. Would we like to have greater output from the top-order? There’s no doubt about that. And those players would want more runs. But they’ll come.”We’ve been able to find a way through the West Indies batting order…and they’ve been quite big victories.”McDonald added he did not foresee any changes for the final Test, which will be Mitchell Starc’s 100th, although they will assess players once in Jamaica.A decision on whether to release Marnus Labuschagne from the squad will be taken once play starts. There is an option for him to rejoin for Glamorgan in the County Championship or potentially head to Darwin for the second four-day game against Sri Lanka A which starts on July 20. However, giving him a break before the August ODI series against South Africa is also a possibility.
