‘I feel for Sammy’: How Konstas found out about his Test axing

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Sam Konstas’ flatulence wasn’t on anyone’s Ashes squad announcement bingo card when head selector George Bailey fronted a press conference on the Gold Coast on Wednesday.

“I feel for Sammy,” Bailey told reporters, just minutes after informing the 20-year-old batsman he had been axed from the Australian Test team ahead of the opening Ashes clash in Perth in 16 days’ time.

“I feel like at the moment, if he farts, it’s a headline.”

Since Boxing Day last year, when he blazed 60 off 65 balls and ramped India’s Jasprit Bumrah like it was a game of backyard cricket, Konstas has been a lightning rod for attention.

There has been no shortage of headlines, but the clicks tell the story – Australia remains fascinated by Konstas and whether he’ll ever live up to the hype.

Scores of 4, 14, 0, 53, 10 and 41 – at an average of 20.33 from three Sheffield Shield matches for NSW – on top of 50 runs in six Test innings in the Caribbean, gave selectors little choice but to omit him from a 15-man Ashes squad, foreshadowed by this masthead, that includes a fresh face in 31-year-old Tasmanian opener Jake Weatherald.

The intensity and spotlight of an Ashes opener was deemed too great a risk for a prodigious cricketer still burdened by his dazzling debut. His lack of runs made the decision a fait accompli.

As one figure close to Konstas said on Wednesday: “The kid is 20. Not his fault he has a baggy green already. He’ll learn and he’ll come back, like all the good ones do.”

Konstas was waiting by his phone at Cronulla Beach in Sydney, enjoying a day off with his brothers, when Bailey called with the bad but unsurprising news.

Unlike past Ashes squads, there were no leaks this time. The phone calls to players came late and fast before a midday (AEDT) announcement.

Konstas and Cummins celebrate Australia’s victory at the MCG last year.

Coincidentally, Konstas and Bailey have both played five Tests for Australia, neither tasting defeat.

Often an underperforming player can survive if the team is winning, but not this time. Concerns about Konstas’ vulnerability to the ball moving back and general approach to batting were too great.

“There’s a handful of young guys his age playing Shield cricket around the country and they’re all learning and going through a journey of being the best cricketer they can be. Sammy is no different,” Bailey said. “He just happens to be doing it under what seems to be immense scrutiny.”

The fart line resurfaced, and Bailey doubled down.

“That wasn’t a joke,” Bailey said. “The amount of headlines that he gets just for playing is extraordinary compared to other players around the country in similar positions.”

Bailey described every conversation with Konstas as “a joy” and said the youngster remained “incredibly upbeat” after their conversation. Konstas was polite and took the news as one would expect.

However, Konstas knew deep down his international career was about to be put on hold. A prolific century-maker his whole life, he knows what’s expected.

His private prediction as to who might replace him at the top of the order wasn’t named in Australia’s squad.

As Bailey said, “as complicated as we try and make cricket, it’s about runs”.

When Konstas debuted – becoming the fourth-youngest Australian in history at 19 years and 79 days – he had just 718 first-class runs at 42.23 from 11 matches.

While Marnus Labuschagne remains in strong contention to open, Weatherald, by contrast, brings a decade of experience: 5269 first-class runs at 37.63 from 76 games. He is a well-rounded player with a firm grasp of his game and the antithesis of Konstas.

Had Konstas been retained for the Sri Lanka series in January, things may have unfolded differently. He very well could have belted a century to cement his Ashes spot.

Konstas’ opening partner, Usman Khawaja, cashed in with 232 in that match – in an Australian total of 6d-654 – which remains his only score above 90 in his last 44 Test innings since mid-2023.

Bailey insists Khawaja’s experience remains invaluable, but the veteran’s own position will come under scrutiny if he starts slowly against England. Two bad Tests and Khawaja might get the same treatment as Nathan McSweeney did last summer.

Konstas will return to the nets on Thursday ahead of NSW’s tantalising Sheffield Shield clash with Victoria at the SCG, starting on Monday.

Twin hundreds against an attack led by Scott Boland? Unlikely, but stranger things have happened.

In 2019, Kurtis Patterson made 157 not out and 102 not out for a Cricket Australia XI against a Sri Lankan touring side. Two days later, he was parachuted into the Test squad, and debuted for Australia a week later in Brisbane.

“It’s not going to be linear,” Bailey said of Konstas’ career. “No one’s passage through their career is linear. The message is to keep it simple and score runs and bat for as long and as helpful a way as you can for NSW.

“We really like him. There has been investment. Confident that over the long run it’ll build out.”