Interestingly, Ponting had endorsed for young Sam Konstas to fill in the opening position vacancy post David Warner\u2019s retirement. \u201cI was put on the spot about a week ago, and I sort of immediately went to the young guy, Sam Konstas. He had come off back-to-back hundreds against South Australia.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cThen I thought a bit more about it and, he is so young and he has probably not even played on grounds like Optus (Perth) Stadium or at The Gabba. He wouldn\u2019t have played a pink-ball (match) at Adelaide Oval either. So there\u2019s a lot of things that stack up against the young guy, although there\u2019s no doubt that he\u2019s got talent.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cAnother thing that I\u2019d said then was that I don\u2019t think they\u2019d go back to a (Cameron) Bancroft or (Marcus) Harris because if they\u2019re willing to do that they would\u2019ve done it the last year,\" said Ponting on latest episode of The ICC Review show.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Coming in at number four, McSweeney impressed again on day three of Australia A\u2019s first four-day game against India A in Mackay, making an unbeaten 47 till stumps arrived, even as other specialist opening contenders failed to make a big score.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"So, the only name left for me more or less is Nathan McSweeney, who is Queensland-born now playing for South Australia. He got the most out of any of those guys from the \u2018A\u2019 game in Australia at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cAnd he\u2019s more experienced. He has captained Australia A in the past, and he\u2019s captaining them now. So, I\u2019m leaning towards McSweeney now for that opening role at the start of the Australian summer,\u201d added Ponting.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Ponting believes Konstas\u2019 time would come, especially given that Khawaja is 37 and is nearing the sunset of his Test cricket career, while adding the youngster can till then work on his issues in domestic cricket while facing the moving ball.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cAnd when Khawaja goes in about a year or so, then someone like Konstas has played another season or a half of (Sheffield) Shield cricket (domestic competition in Australia) and he might be ready to come in at the top of the order then. He\u2019s not the only person who has issues with the ball coming back in and the more exposure he gets to that type of bowling, the better off he is going to be.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Ponting believes Konstas\u2019 time would come, especially given that Khawaja is 37 and is nearing the sunset of his Test cricket career, while adding the youngster can till then work on his issues in domestic cricket while facing the moving ball.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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