WI vs AUS 2025: 'Australia have to stick with him' - Ponting backs Konstas amid early struggles

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has back Australia's current top three to feature in the first Ashes Test later this year. He also offered advice to young batter Sam Konstas, who has been at the center of ongoing debate within Australian cricket circles.

Although Australia recently secured a 3-0 series win over the West Indies, their batters failed to make a significant impact, with pitches heavily favouring the bowlers. Ponting voiced his support for Konstas, who impressed with a debut half-century against Jasprit Bumrah and India’s formidable bowling lineup during last year’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy. However, since that promising start, the youngster has struggled to maintain consistency with the bat.

“The (batters) that they're talking about the last couple of weeks in particular, have been (Sam) Konstas and (Usman) Khawaja, and then there was some talk about Cameron Green, if he was a long term No.3 three or not,” Ponting said to Sanjana Ganesan in The ICC Review.

“(Green’s) second innings in the West Indies (in the last Test) might have just put some of that to bed. As tough as those conditions were to bat for as long as he did in trying conditions he might have silenced a few of those critics. I think with where they're at, I think the Ashes line-up is going to be like it is right now. I think that's what they're going to be starting with, and you keep your fingers crossed and hope that those guys can get the job done at the start,” he added.

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Ponting acknowledged that the top-order spots are far from locked in. However, with only an Australia A series against Sri Lanka and four Sheffield Shield rounds remaining before the crucial Ashes series, there is limited opportunity for others to break into the squad.

“Nathan McSweeney, who started the Australian summer against India last year, made some runs in one of those (Sri Lanka A) games. Matt Renshaw has made a lot of runs in the white ball format as well in those games. I don't think there's going to be anyone else outside of the names that we've heard for the last couple of years that will be spoken about again. McSweeney is the obvious one to go back to sooner rather than later,” said Ponting.

“If they (Australia) get two or three Test matches into the Ashes and things aren't going well, the longer you go in a series, obviously the harder it is to change, and it's not like they're jumping up and down, batsmen left, right and centre making runs all over the place either,” he added.

Ponting also named Jason Sangha as a potential inclusion in the Australian squad. However, he emphasised that with limited matches ahead, opportunities for new players to break through are scarce.

“The start of the Sheffield Shield season will be an interesting one for some of those names that I've mentioned there, and I'll throw another name in that I think is a highly talented Australian batsman, that's Jason Sangha. I think he's someone whose name will probably come up at some stage as well, but there's just not many games now, not many opportunities to be able to get yourself and get your name up in front of the selectors,” Ponting said.

Konstas played on tougher batting pitches: Ponting

Konstas averages just 16.30 from his first 10 Test innings, but Ponting believes the young batter has faced a tougher initiation into international cricket than most.

“I read some really interesting quotes or a story written by (Australian journalist) Robert Craddock about Sam Konstas, how the Australians sort of tried to protect him from what they thought was going to be a really difficult tour of Sri Lanka. They left him out there hoping to bring him in in the Caribbean where things might have been a little bit easier. Well, it's been the opposite. It's been the exact opposite of that,” said Ponting.

“As it turned out, the attack and the wickets in Sri Lanka were good batting wickets and a really poor attack. And the wickets that we've got in the Caribbean have been hard for everybody to bat on. I look at that last result where the West Indies have been bowled out for 27. That's just not down to high quality bowling. That's down to the surface and the ball and all sorts of things,” he added.

Konstas has early flaws in batting technique: Ponting

In Konstas’ efforts to develop his game, Ponting has observed technical adjustments that, while potentially limiting short-term success, could offer significant long-term benefits.

“Sam's always going to have, like every batter that is finding their way at international level, people sit back and try and pick holes in your technique when you're trying to find your own way at international level,” said Ponting.

“Now he's always been someone that's been talked about potentially having an issue with (the ball) coming back in, particularly on the front foot, and we saw in the Caribbean a couple of instances there of lbws and chop-ons but we also saw the other side of it where when he tries to correct that and probably stay a little bit more leg-side of the ball. That's when the outside edge of the bat came into play and he nicked a couple as well like he did in the second innings of that first Test match,” he added.

Konstas need to be patient: Ponting

Ponting emphasised that he will not be too hard on Konstas and urged the Australian team to support the youngster through his struggles. He insisted that the team should stick with him and help him work through the issues in his batting. Ponting reflected on his own early challenges, having debuted in Test cricket at the age of 20 and managing just one century in his first two years wearing the Baggy Green.

“I'm not going to make any really harsh judgment calls on Sam yet because it was hard work for every batter in that series, there's no doubt about it. (I) think they have to stick with him for a period of time and help him work through these deficiencies that he might have or might not have,” Ponting said.

“If we get him back onto some flatter wickets at the start of the Australian summer and some Sheffield Shield matches under his belt, maybe he's got a great chance there to get some confidence back and get some runs under his belt. I'll back him in,” he concluded.WI vs AUS 2025: 'They have to stick with him' - Ponting backs Konstas amid early struggles