“You’re here for a reason. I guess you just trust that. You’re in this position because you’re a good player,” Hazlewood said in support of Konstas. “Every time I’ve bowled to him in the last few months [in the nets], he just keeps getting better and better, it feels like. He got thrown into a tough situation there.
“But we saw in the first innings, he played some really nice shots, put some pressure back on the bowlers. I think he’s turning in the right direction. But it’s tough at 19.”
In some ways, the attacking intent expected from Konstas was better embodied by West Indies batter Brandon King.
Despite having played only four first-class matches this domestic season with an average of 30.25, King was included in the side to take the attack to the opposition bowlers, and he delivered with a brilliant knock of 75 off 108 balls.
“He’s an aggressive batsman. He likes to play his strokes,” said skipper Chase. “When he gets whiffed, he would score. When the ball’s up, he would score. So, yeah, we expect Brandon to be the type of player to try to put pressure back onto the bowlers.”
“And he did that today. When the ball was in his areas, he capitalized. And anytime the bowlers were off, he made them pay. So, yeah, that’s the kind of innings that we were looking for from Brandon.”
