Melbourne [Australia], October 22 : Former Australian captain Allan Border harshly criticised compatriot and rising batter Sam Konstas for his poor shot selection in red-ball format, advising him to "shelve" his signature ramp shot.
20-year-old Konstas was off to a fine start to his Test career during the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne last year, ramping and rattling the Indian pace superstar Jasprit Bumrah with the same ramp shots that have now caused him to lose his wickets on plenty of occasions way too early. While his first outing against India was a solid one and showcased his promise with a half-century on debut, the tour to the West Indies, with just 50 runs in three Tests, was a nightmarish one.
Even in domestic and 'A' team cricket, Konstas has had mixed results with the ramp shot. While it has connected well sometimes, he has often lost his wicket to the same shot. In his last 10 innings, he has scored 319 runs at an average of over 35, with a century and a half-century each.
Speaking on the SENQ Breakfast radio show, the 1987 World Cup-winning skipper questioned Konstas if he could attempt a cover drive, basically advising him to switch to more conventional, textbook strokes.
"Sam Konstas, I have only ever seen him play a ramp shot," Border said as quoted by Wisden. "Can he cover drive, or anything like that? I do not know. It's all there, but I just have not seen any ... I have seen him constantly try and play this bloody ramp shot. Okay, it is a handy shot to have in the kit bag, but I would leave it there for a while until I got a few on the board first," said Border.
While the former captain admitted that it is hard to tell others how to bat, his advice to Konstas would be to "shelve the ramp shot".
"Just give yourself a chance to get yourself in, just conventionally playing, and as your innings develops, yes, you play however you want to," he said.
"There is lots of ways to make Test match runs, you do not have to play the ramp shot. He is good enough, from what I am hearing, but I just have not seen it yet. That is just me," he added.
In 24 first-class matches, Konstas has made 1,321 runs in 44 innings at an average of 31.45, with three centuries and seven fifties and a best score of 152.
With the Ashes squad yet to be announced, Konstas would be aiming to make plenty more runs and give a better impression to the selectors ahead of the first Test at Perth from November 21 onwards.
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