Where will the next Konstas or Webster come from? Hint – it’s not the Big Bash

At least the Big Bash League grew beyond state divisions. There are enough quality players and anxious fans to increase the number of teams even further, but the paradox is that the BBL season has recently been shortened. As the Shield competition is a financial loss-leader, adding two more teams would seem like a useful long-term investment in the continuation of Australia’s Test team as a competitive force. The national team’s success is the core factor in the growth of grassroots, for fans, and most importantly, at the box office.

No doubt the BBL swells the exchequer, which enables players, coaches, development officers and administrators to be paid. Devoting more resources to the promotion of the Shield might be useful as well. A team in Canberra seems logical, perhaps with a sibling on the Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast – or even Darwin. It’s a big country, and cricket is played all over it.

Apart from the graduated ascent of Beau Webster, there are some shooting stars and some solid citizens getting an education in the Sheffield Shield. The T20 path to Test cricket works for very few, and selectors and coaches must tread carefully through the fireworks and confetti.

Konstas is in the comet class, but he won’t become a better Test player via T20. Will Cooper Connolly or Jake Fraser-McGurk get enough red-ball cricket to crack the Test team? Maybe Test cricket will have to adapt to their style. Imagine a line-up with Konstas reverse-ramping, Fraser McGurk blasting good length balls over mid-wicket and Connolly flicking behind square for six. Never say never.

Meanwhile, the caravan has moved on and more orthodox players such as Kurtis Patterson (Test average 144, last Test innings 114 not out) have re-emerged as potential replacements for Marnus Labuschagne or Usman Khawaja. A complement is needed for Konstas rather than a twin. Nathan McSweeney will return to the Test side, but not opening the batting. McSweeney’s Sheffield Shield performances earned him a baggy green and there is no reason to think that his education wasn’t good enough.

The Morris v Konstas confrontation in the NSW-WA Shield game I wrote about before the Melbourne Test was a high-class examination for both players. It was a Test-level contest, which we must expect from Shield games if players are to be ready for the step-up. T20 cricket is not going to deliver Test cricketers by itself, and playing white-ball cricket alone, with its prescribed lines and lengths and scripted tempo and rhythm, will not do either. The symphony of a Test match needs more than the percussion and brass.

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The next mission for Australia is two Tests in Sri Lanka. The Tigers haven’t been at the top of their game for a while, but Australia will find the pitches of Galle a different shade of brown. Spin will become important and Australia have quite a few tweakers to choose from. The off spin of Corey Rocchiccioli or Todd Murphy if Nathan Lyon stumbles, the leg spin of Mitchell Swepson, Tanveer Sangha or Lloyd Pope, or maybe the left-arm wrist spin from Hamish McKenzie or finger spin of Matthew Kuhnemann – all of these guys have been ploughing away in the Shield, learning their trade, gaining experience.

Batting back-ups might be found in Tim Ward, Josh Phillippe, Jordan Silk, Jack Edwards, Henry Hunt or Matthew Short, or even the forgotten Marcus Harris.

The Shield should not be sold short by its owners. It needs expansion to continue the flow of talent to the top of the pyramid next to Konstas and Webster.

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