‘Just stop the ramp shot,’ Allan Border’s stark warning for Konstas ahead of Ashes

New Delhi: Former Australia captain and cricket legend Allan Border gave his blunt opinion on Sam Konstas’ batting style and urged the youngster to stop the theatrics of playing ramp shots and concentrate on his technique if he wants a future in Test cricket.

The 20-year-old, who took the cricket world by storm last December when he scored a lively 60 off 65 balls on debut at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, has struggled for consistent form in recent months, leading to speculation he will not play a significant role in the upcoming Ashes series.

“Sam Konstas, I’ve only ever seen him play a ramp shot. Can he cover drive or anything like that? We just haven’t seen anything but Konstas constantly trying to play this bloody ramp shot. It’s a handy shot to have in the kit bag, but I’d be leaving it there for a while until I’ve got a few on the board,” Border said on SENQ Breakfast.

“It’s hard to tell people how to bat specifically, but I’d be saying ‘just stop the ramp shot, just give yourself a chance to get yourself in and just conventionally playing’.

“There’s lots of ways to make Test match runs. You don’t have to ramp playing the ramp shot. He’s good enough from what I’m hearing, but I just haven’t seen it yet,” he added.

Asked about Australia’s opener dilemma, Border said that there’s no one really knocking on the door apart from Marnus Labuschagne, who has never opened in Test cricket, has just one Test century since the end of 2022, and failed to make much of an impression in two matches for the County side Glamorgan earlier this month.

Nevertheless, the 31-year-old has started strongly, scoring four centuries in five innings across three List A matches and two Sheffield Shield games for Queensland.

“It’s a million-dollar question. There’s no one really knocking the door down apart from Labuschagne and he’s not really listed as an opener. They might ask him to open and if he’s prepared to do it he could probably get through because he’s got the technique and the runs on the board to do a good job for us, but I just get the feeling that he is going to be No 3.

“We need to find, some more top order players. Usman is a lock-in for the first couple of Tests at least, then I’d be going Renshaw. “I just think that he might be the right choice. Weatherald’s doing a good job but I don’t know; it’s a tough one because the top 3 is very, very important,” Border said.

IANS