Captain Pat Cummins backed inexperienced opener Sam Konstas to deliver on the international stage despite the youngster’s struggles against the West Indies as Australia won the first test in Bridgetown by 159 runs on Friday.
The highly-rated 19-year-old was out for three runs as the Australians made a slow start to the first innings and scored five in his second spell at the crease, but Cummins threw his support behind the Sydney-born right-hander.
“One of the hard things about playing test cricket is you get thrown different conditions all the time,” said Cummins.
“You might not have the flying hours under your belt as a youngster coming in, so you’ve got to come in and work out your craft on the bigger stage.
“The hardest thing when the pitch is doing a lot is getting out of your little bubble, trying to score and take good options, which is really hard in these conditions. You saw today how hard it can be to fire a few shots.
“Sammy tried a few different options yesterday, not too many worked out. But (I have) full confidence.”
Both Konstas and Cameron Green, at number three, struggled but the Australians were set up for victory by the batting performances of Travis Head, Beau Webster and Alex Carey.
The West Indies were left to chase a target of 301 to win but, with Josh Hazlewood producing a bowling masterclass to claim five wickets for 43 runs, the hosts were dismissed for 141 as the match ended with two days remaining.
“The wicket was playing a lot of tricks,” said Cummins. “I thought we might make decent in-roads, but I didn’t think we’d get 10. Always nice to get a couple of days off.
“I thought those three (Head, Webster and Carey) were brilliant. They kept the scoreboard ticking over. They took really good options and they were always looking to score. That was the difference.
“We turned up today thinking that we wouldn’t get a big lead, it was 50-50 really and those guys took the game away from West Indies. I thought all three of those were really impressive.”
