Jackson Barrett: Sam Konstas missing out in Sri Lanka is not an axing, it’s part of a broader two-pronged plan

Playing cricket in the sub-continent can feel like a whole different sport to playing in Australia. It’s why selectors moving past Sam Konstas for the first Test in Sri Lanka from Wednesday, makes the teen sensation no less likely to open the batting when they return for the Ashes at the end of the year, or even when they head to the West Indies in August. While there is great temptation — with their place in the World Test Championship final already locked away — for Australia to give Konstas another go at the top of the order, Travis Head was just as much the incumbent opener. Head shifted into the role on Australia’s tour of India in 2023 and, as stand-in captain Steve Smith indicated on Tuesday, they liked what they saw. There are two important series on the horizon for our Test team. The first, naturally, is next summer’s home Ashes series against an England side building their most promising pace attack in some time. The other, is the 2027 five-Test trip to India. It was Australian cricket’s final frontier when they won there in 2004 and two decades on it has become that again, now the Border-Gavaskar Trophy has been claimed Down Under. Selectors have effectively set themselves up with two Australian Test teams running concurrently, with two different tours in sight. Konstas has no experience yet playing in the sub-continent. Selectors would have weighed up giving him that opportunity here, given their rare circumstance, but have opted to stick with the man they clearly see as their opener in India two years down the line. The skills Head brings to the top of the order and the damage he can do with some pace on a hard new ball are valuable for an Australian batting unit that could find themselves in tricky positions. Konstas was brought in to release the shackles Jasprit Bumrah had over the Australian team this summer — and did a superb job — but the cavalier style he took to that series would be an unnecessary risk for a side still unsure exactly how the Galle pitch will play. The Sydneysider will have a long career in the Test team and not every knock will be like his stunning MCG debut — because that’s not what his first-class infancy tells us about him — but the time for that is just a little way down the road. Jackson Barrett’s first Test XI 1. Usman Khawaja 2. Travis Head 3. Marnus Labuschagne 4. Steve Smith 5. Josh Inglis 6. Beau Webster 7. Alex Carey 8. Mitchell Starc 9. Todd Murphy 10. Matthew Kuhnemann 11. Nathan Lyon 12th man: Scott Boland