Sam Konstas plays under 21 match on same day at Test team flies to Perth for Ashes opener against England
It continues a lean stretch for Konstas, who dazzled with 60 on Test debut at the MCG last summer but has struggled to meet expectations since.
Konstas had been used in Cricket Australia’s promotional material ahead of the Ashes.
Sam Konstas made 17 for Sutherland in an under-21s match on Sunday.
He managed just 50 runs from six innings on the recent Test tour of the Caribbean and has 161 runs from eight innings for NSW this Sheffield Shield season.
Selectors had hoped Konstas would find form and keep his place alongside Usman Khawaja, but he was replaced in the Ashes squad by Jake Weatherald, who is in line for a Test debut on Friday.
“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,” chief selector George Bailey said earlier this month. “He just happens to be doing it under what seems to be immense scrutiny.”
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Konstas’ former batting coach, Neil D’Costa, warned last year that thrusting the teenager into Test cricket carried risks.
D’Costa, who now coaches Marnus Labuschagne and also mentored Michael Clarke and Phillip Hughes, said Konstas had work to do.
“I feel sorry for Sam because he never should have been put in that position,” D’Costa said this week. “His technique was immature, his game plans were immature, his understanding of his game was immature.
“He got extremely lucky in that Test match against India. He could have been out 15 times. Most of the key elements that you need, with the shapes as a batsman, he’s not got at all.”
Konstas’ next match will be for NSW in their Sheffield Shield clash with Tasmania starting on Saturday.
