Former Australian captain Mark Taylor has advised Sam Konstas to go back to Shield cricket and focus on what made him score the mountain of runs, which actually got him into the national Test side in the first place, amid a poor run of form. Konstas, after making everyone's jaws drop with those ramp shots off Jasprit Bumrah in the Boxing Day Test, fell off the cliff with respect to his form, scoring a total of 50 runs in six innings against the West Indies.
"My advice to Sam would be to go back (to the Shield) and work out how you got into the Australian team," Taylor said about Konstas ahead of the first Ashes Test, which kicks off in Perth on November 21. "He got there not by ramping Jasprit Bumrah at the MCG.
"Go back to what you do well, how you normally bat, and do it over and over again, just as Marnus has done over the past two months, and then get picked again. If he does start making runs again - which I think he will - then he will get picked again. "He's only just turned 20, so he's got plenty of time on his side," he added.
Konstas was dropped from the Australian side for the first Ashes Test in Perth against England, after returning middling scores in the Sheffield Shield in the build-up. Konstas returned scores of 4, 14, 0, 53, 10 and 4, playing for New South Wales, while Marnus Labuschagne was scoring centuries for Queensland. Hence, Labuschagne and Jake Weatherald, who has been in really consistent Shield form, got the nod at the top of the order.
Australia are yet to take a call on the final XI, having named 15 players for the first Test, but Cameron Green will be an interesting topic of discussion given Labuschagne is back in the side. If Weatherald does make his debut in Perth, one of Labuschagne or Green will open. Or, Australia could push the veteran up to open the innings alongside Usman Khawaja, like the World Test Championship (WTC) final and then Green will be able to retain his spot at three.
