Updated ,first published
Sam Konstas has been formally relegated to the fringes of Australian cricket after being cut from the list of central contracts handed out by Cricket Australia on Wednesday.
Following his celebrated Test debut against India on Boxing Day in 2024, Konstas was jostled out of the side in Sri Lanka before returning for a difficult tour of the West Indies where he struggled for runs, as opponents and experts dissected his technical flaws.
While being prominent in promotional campaigns for the Ashes series, Konstas was nowhere to be seen when the selectors named their squads to face England.
With 660 runs at 33 with one century, Konstas was the leading Sheffield Shield run scorer for New South Wales, but evidently did not do enough to retain his contract.
“I’m not privy to who they’re going to use for different marketing campaigns, and a lot of that’s probably dependent on who’s available or who’s in Sydney at any given point,” selection chair George Bailey said of Konstas’ high profile.
“My reflection on Sam and his journey is that he’s a young player, he’s going to go through ups and downs, we know the high-end ability is there, and then it’s just about learning to navigate through the rest of it and continuing to grow his game.
“At the start of the season there was a lot of chopping and changing around technique and methods at different times. It looked like that was settling, and he was starting to find his feet in terms of what he wanted to knuckle down and commit to. [We’re] still firmly interested in what his future holds.”
Another emerging player, Cooper Connolly, lit up the Indian Premier League after learning he, too, had been cut from the contract list, pummelling 72 from 44 balls to lead Ricky Ponting’s Punjab Kings to an opening victory overnight.
Identified early by Australia’s selectors, Connolly made his Test debut in addition to multiple white-ball appearances over the past 18 months, but with just 28 runs at 4.66 from 11 T20 internationals he was an obvious choice to lose his CA deal.
Connolly and Konstas are among the young players denied central contracts for 2026-27, as CA reduced the number of deals offered to 21 ahead of a taxing calendar of as many as 21 Tests in 12 months.
Glenn Maxwell, Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson and Matt Short and the retired Usman Khawaja were the other players to lose their deals from last year.
Jake Weatherald gained his first fully fledged contract as Travis Head’s opening partner, but Bailey suggested the urbane left-hander had some technical work to do before his place in the side became secure.
“It’s an indication. It’s not a guarantee,” Bailey said.
“I think there was a real plan and a target from England, around some of the technical aspects of his game, but we think he can play. And I think he’s got a really good opportunity now. He’s going to go to Leicester [in county cricket] for a little bit.
“Bouncing out of that Ashes series, he went straight to work on how we could address some of those [issues] and hopefully fine tune his game.”
After struggling to start his innings against spin for Australia, Connolly batted at No.3 for Punjab and had the luxury of facing 13 balls of pace before crossing swords with the wrist spin of Rashid Khan. He appeared much more comfortable as a result.
Connolly’s Punjab teammate, swing bowler Xavier Bartlett, kept his national deal.
Bailey explained that the contract list favoured Test and multi-format players due to the fact there are so many Tests and no World Cups to be played during the contract period.
“We’re constantly trying to get that balance of rewarding those that have performed well for a period of time and contributed to what’s been, particularly in the Test space, a very successful period,” he said.
“There’s a level of evenness across a number of players who are on the fringe of playing for Australia.
“We know with the schedule we have that we’re going to have to go outside the contract list. From last year I think there were 10 other players who ended up being upgraded, so we know we’re going to be challenged on depth.”
Nathan Lyon is continuing his recovery from a hamstring tendon tear he suffered during the Ashes, and Bailey said the panel were conscious of the possibility of having to carefully manage the 38-year-old’s body.
“There’s a sense of realism that a pretty significant hamstring tendon injury to a 38-year-old, it may not ever get back to the upper echelon of where you need it to, so what does that look like?” he said.
“It may mean there’s not necessarily a capacity to play big blocks of games, so you may look at that. It’s just being a little bit aware of that as a possibility.
“But where it stands at the moment, and with a really good block for him to get it as strong and bowling as well as he can, he’s got a great opportunity for that, and it’s tracking well.”
Cricket Australia contract list: Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Mitchell Starc, Steve Smith, Alex Carey, Beau Webster, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland, Michael Neser, Brendan Doggett, Adam Zampa, Nathan Ellis, Josh Inglis, Jake Weatherald, Matt Kuhnemann, Todd Murphy, Xavier Bartlett.
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