Former Australian captain Michael Captain has backed youngster Sam Konstas to retain his spot in the playing eleven as an opener in the Sri Lanka tests.
Aussies have been considering Travis Head to open along with Usman Khawaja, which could potentially make Sam Konstas miss out on a spot in the playing 11 for the first test of the Australia tour of Sri Lanka 2025.
But Clarke believes that Australia should not make changes in the batting order which secured a win in the MCG and SCG tests against India.
“I think he (Konstas) would be happy to play. I don’t think we need too much (change) in terms of structure.”
“We’ve just come off a win. Conditions are very different but Trav has been extraordinary through the middle order.”
“The other thing is I don’t think it’s going to matter. If you’re going to open the batting, you’re going to start against spin. If you bat five, you’re going to walk in against spin.”
“Get used to facing spin bowling because you’ll get two Test matches of it. Sam’s an enormous talent and I think Australian cricket continues to produce young, talented players in men’s and women’s cricket.”
“You learn so many things by having good senior players around you. Sam is one of the examples where he’s lucky to have these senior players around him,” said Clarke to reporters at the SCG.
Michael Clarke feels that Steve Smith who is recovering from a minor elbow injury sustained in the Big Bash League would be a major boost for the side.
“He’s so important for us over there in those conditions with the way he plays spin and his knowledge of the game. I assume Australia will play at least two spinners. I’d be surprised if Sri Lanka played more than two quicks.”
“They might just play one. There’s some youngsters around (the Australian setup) to learn the ropes… and see Sri Lankan conditions. It’s very different to anywhere else in the world,” he concluded.
The first Sri Lanka-Australia will be played between January 29 and February 02 at Galle International Stadium.
