Sam Konstas moved on from a batting slump with a century in the Sheffield Shield for New South Wales against Queensland.
Sam Konstas hits first Shield hundred in almost 14 months
Konstas last played Test cricket for Australia on their tour to the West Indies earlier this year and wasn’t named in their squads for the first two Tests of the ongoing Ashes 2025/26 series. But he staked his claim for the remaining games with a first Sheffield Shield century in almost 14 months.
Konstas stitched a 112-run partnership with Matthew Gilkes for the opening wicket, with the latter dismissed for 55 by Gurinder Sandhu. Soon after, he completed his fifty with a boundary and added another 130 runs with Kurtis Patterson for the second wicket. During the partnership, he brought up his hundred off 161 deliveries, also with a four.
Before Tom Whitney dismissed him caught and bowled, Konstas had scored 116 runs, with nine fours and a six. This was his first first-class hundred since a 144-ball 109 against India A on Australia A’s tour to India in September this year, and first Shield ton since his twin hundreds against South Australia in October 2024, which was only his fifth FC game.
Since his hundred against India A, he had gone 13 first-class innings without a ton, a run that included just one score of 50 or more.
Match 17, New South Wales vs Queensland
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Sam Konstas shone on Test debut but couldn't build on it
He was rewarded for his Shield showing in the 2024/25 season with a maiden Test call-up for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, where he played the fourth and fifth games. He started handsomely, scoring a fifty in his debut innings in the Melbourne Test, which included taking on Jasprit Bumrah in an entertaining innings. But he couldn’t build onto it with scores of 8, 23, 22, 3, 5, 25, 0, 17 and 0 in his other nine innings, leading to his exclusion from Australia’s Test squad.
In the ongoing Sheffield Shield season, Konstas has been the top-scorer for New South Wales with 339 runs in 11 innings at 57.36, with a hundred and fifty.
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