Racing
League
Rugby
Cricket
Golf
Motorsport
Combat Sports
Football
Netball
Basketball
Other Sports
Sport Nation
"Stop the bloody ramp shot": Border's warning for Konstas
Emily Benammar • October 22nd, 2025 1:40 pm
Former Australia captain, selector and cricket legend Allan Border has urged Sam Konstas to stop the theatrics and focus on his technique if he wants a future in Test cricket.
The 20-year-old, who took the cricket world by storm last December when he smashed an impressive half-century against India at the MCG, has struggled for consistent form in recent months leading to speculation he will not play a big role in the forthcoming Ashes series.
Despite an impressive outing for Australia A in September, Konstas has been criticised in recent months for his footwork and outlandish techniques, which most recently saw him clean bowled against Victoria in the Sheffield Shield when attempting a ramp shot.
Dismissed for just 20 by Cam McLure on Sunday means his Ashes audition has produced scores of 4, 14, 0 and 53 with time running out before selectors are expected to confirm their squad for the November 21 opener in Perth.
So, what is Border’s advice?
“Sam Konstas, I've only ever seen him play a ramp shot,” he said on SENQ Breakfast.
“Can he cover drive or anything like that?
“We just haven't seen anything but Konstas constantly trying to play this bloody ramp shot.
“It's a handy shot to have in the kit bag, but I’d be leaving it there for a while until I've got a few on the board.
“It's hard to tell people how to bat specifically, but I'd be saying ‘just stop the ramp shot, just give yourself a chance to get yourself in and just conventionally playing’.
“There's lots of ways to make Test match runs. You don't have to ramp playing the ramp shot.
“He's good enough from what I'm hearing, but I just haven't seen it yet.”
YOUTH CRISIS?
With Konstas likely to sit out the opening Tests and potentially the entire series against England, Border suggested that the evolution of a cricketer’s maturity is the root cause of the apparent “opener crisis” in Australia.
With careers spanning longer and more youngsters coming in at T20 level, the development of technique has, to a degree, taken a back seat.
“You just reward performance,” Border said.
“That's the main thing otherwise there's no point in playing those Shield games.
“It seems to me that the older guys are the ones that are scoring the runs (but) you want to have Konstas and a couple of other younger sort coming through the ranks and doing the business.
“At the moment it's just more senior guys scoring the runs and you feel like you're going backwards if you do pick those guys.
“(But) you score the runs, you've got to reward that. It'd be nice to see some early 20-year-olds making a lot more runs.
“The younger guys are brought up with power hitting in mind - that's the thing that youngsters want to do.
“Technique sort of goes out the window a little bit.”
WHO OPENS FOR AUSTRALIA?
“It's a million-dollar question. There's no one really knocking the door down apart from Labuschagne and he's not really listed as an opener.
“They might ask him to open and if he's prepared to do it he could probably get through because he's got the technique and the runs on the board to do a good job for us, but I just get the feeling that he is going to be No 3.
“We need to find, some more top order players.
“Usman is a lock-in for the first couple of Tests at least, then I'd be going Renshaw.
“I just think that he might be the right choice.
“I just think that he might be the right choice.
“Weatherald's doing a good job but I don't know; it’s a tough one because the top 3 is very, very important.
CAM GREEN?
“We can stick with him, I'm just a bit concerned. They want him to bat at about number 3 and I don't think his technique is suitable for that job.
“I can't see him batting at 3.
“Webster has done nothing wrong since they picked him and that all-round ability, particularly going into Perth, you might need a bit of a backup to the quickies over there.
“I'd be locking him (Webster) in at number 6 and Green misses out in my first instance.
“If Labuschagne opens they could play Green and Webster and that wouldn't be a bad scenario, but do they want to manufacture the openers?"
