How Sam Konstas’ father unknowingly prepared his son for tough battles

PTI, Dec 26, 2024, 3:05 PM IST

Melbourne: If going after the much-feared Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah came naturally to Sam Konstas, it had something to do with an innocuous mistake his father committed during the teenager’s childhood training.

Making a Test debut that will be talked about for a long time, Konstas lived up to the hype around his talent by smashing an impressive 60 off 65 balls when the Boxing Day Test got underway here on Thursday.

More than the runs he scored, it was Konstas’ audacity to take on the world class Bumrah with the new ball that had the experts singing his eulogy.

Konstas’ brother Billy, who is a physiotherapist by profession, revealed how his father’s error eventually helped his younger brother learn tackling pace bowling from an early age.

“We were little kids and the first time dad took us to a bowling machine, he had it on 90 miles an hour, thinking it was 90 kilometres,” Billy told Fox Cricket.

“Dad fed the machine, and he hit it straight out of the middle. I think from the age of five or six years old, this has always been his dream. It’s a dream come true for all the family and feel very blessed and thank God for being here.” His ultra aggressive approach set the tone and pumped up Australia, who ended the day one of the Boxing Day Test at a comfortable 311 for six.

Billy also revealed that Konstas, who played for St George and Sutherland and graduated to first-class cricket only last year, was confident of getting a good score on debut.

“I’m a physiotherapist by trade and he said ‘Billy, can I get a massage?’ and I asked him how many runs are you gonna score tomorrow?”. He told me ‘don’t worry, I will score a few’. I looked after the young man and he seemed very relaxed,” said Billy.

While Konstas seemed comfortable under his skin, his family was a bundle of nerves. “It’s been an unbelievable experience. Everyone was nervous walking into the ground, heart was pounding a bit.”