Sam Konstas during his junior days at Kingsgrove.Credit: Facebook
Pretty quickly, Subodh was convinced. “We’ve got three special ones here,” he said at the time.
“And the one called Sam … oh, boy. That boy will play for Australia.”
They say it takes a village to raise a child. To raise a Test cricketer, you need a humble village institution, such as the Kingsgrove Cricket Club, and the army of volunteers who make those places tick. Founded by a group of cricketing fathers who wanted somewhere for their children to play, they call themselves “the family club”, and it’s not just a slogan.
As they watched their little Sam ramp-shot his way into the national consciousness on Boxing Day, shrugging off Virat Kohli’s square-up with utter nonchalance in front of an enormous MCG crowd, the Kingsgrove crew were as shocked as anyone. But they weren’t surprised. If Konstas has shown only a few brief flashes to the cricketing world of the player he could become for Australia, they’ve seen the full trailer.
“That’s how he is,” Iemma said.
“There’s no put-on there for the cameras. There’s been a bit of commentary about some of his antics on the field, but they’re not antics. It’s the same unbridled joy and love of a game that he exhibited as a seven-year-old.”
Kingsgrove club president Andrew Starks remembers watching Konstas in the nets when he must have been about 10 years old. Starks was the gear steward at the time and was standing with Konstas’s father, Jim, who asked him what he thought about his son as a cricketer.
“Against every other kid his age, already Sam was an outstanding cricketer – but for me personally, you can’t go, as a 10-year-old, ‘this kid’s going to play for Australia’,” he said.
“Sam played a shot in the nets, and he turned around and said to me, he goes ‘what did you think of that one’?”
Back then, Konstas was primarily a leg-spinner. It was impressive enough that a kid of his age was not only so committed, but already so proficient at a form of bowling that many adults can’t master despite lifelong attempts.
“Then over time, it’s like, ‘this kid can bat as well’,” Starks said.
Manisha Shirodkar and Andrew Starks, the secretary and president of the Kingsgrove Cricket Club.Credit: Rhett Wyman
“And you go from batting at five to four to three, and then you start opening. What they did was, ‘OK, let’s put him up into the next age group’, or, ‘Let’s challenge him by putting him against someone older’. And he succeeded.
“Then it’s like, OK … what else do we do for him?”
Starks has been involved with the Kingsgrove club for most of the past three decades. He lives near the Konstas family home, and walking back from the train station after work or university, his commute would take him past the nets at Hurstville Oval.
“Without fail, every afternoon, I saw Sam, Billy and Johnny down there with Jim having a hit in the nets,” he said. “And if I didn’t see them there, I assumed that they had club training on.”
Sam Konstas poses for a photo as a nine-year-old at Hurstville Oval.Credit: Chris Lane
Soon enough, Konstas was taking opposition bowlers apart on a routine basis – and often in partnership with his twin, Johnny. They’re not identical twins, but there were still complications: they wore the same equipment, both had dark hair, were about the same height and from the boundary, it was sometimes impossible to tell them apart. And that was particularly hard on Manisha, who was still learning how to score.
“I was a rookie,” she said.
“It was the first or second time I was scoring, I think. Subodh, in his enthusiasm of having twins in our team, put them to bat together. I didn’t know most of the kids – it was a new team. Having Sam and Johnny batting together was an absolute disaster. In addition, they were very possessive about how many runs they made – if I put a single more for Johnny instead of Sam, or more for Sam instead of Johnny, they were like, ‘Manisha, no! That’s not right’!”
“I was like, my God, this is getting too much. So I stopped the game. I think I had a piece of handkerchief or something. Everyone was like, ‘what’s happening’? So I took my handkerchief, and then I walked up to one of the boys; I can’t remember now whether it was Johnny or Sam. I said, ‘OK, every time you both come out to bat, whether it’s together or apart, one of you is going to wear this, tie this somewhere – and you need to tell me who before you go on to the field’.”
Problem solved.
As a fielder, Konstas was also exceptional, renowned for his dead-eye throwing accuracy and his ability to conjure a direct hit from absurd locations. Iemma recalls coaching against Konstas’ team (Kingsgrove had several under-10s sides) on one occasion when, after two or three such run-outs from the boundary, his players refused to take singles when they hit the ball towards him.
“There were times when he’s had a direct hit from the boundary,” Manisha said. “People were scared when Sam was fielding, that’s how good he was.”
Konstas’s junior career at Kingsgrove was cut short, simply because he was too good. By 13, he was playing against grown men in grade cricket for St George – and when he wasn’t picked for that, he’d be with Kingsgrove’s fourth-grade team, winning a premiership with them (and Johnny) in 2019.
On Friday, Konstas will play a Test match at the SCG, his home venue, for the first time, in front of friends, family and former teammates, coaches and representatives from the Kingsgrove club. One of them will be holding the Australian flag on the field when the anthems are played on the first day.
“Hopefully, Sam sees that, because that could be a really special moment,” Starks said.
Sam Konstas, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins in at the SCG on Wednesday.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
“In 12 years, he’s gone from bashing balls in the backyard to playing on the SCG. It’s a bit surreal, to be fair. It’s obviously exciting, but surreal that one of the 50 kids that you see at your own club has gone on to beat out thousands of kids from across Australia to get a spot.
“And with the way that the demographic of the team is going, he’ll be there for a long time – and if he remains successful and competitive, he could be 120-plus Test matches.”
Though he is Kingsgrove’s first male Test representative, Konstas is not their only success story. The club’s alumni list also includes women’s stars Rene Farrell and Nicola Carey, and another top men’s prospect, Rafael Macmillan, who came through in the same team as Konstas, and then played with him again for Australia as they won the ICC Under-19s World Cup last year.
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For Manisha, who moved from India in 2006 and credits the club with helping her and Subodh settle in Australia, seeing Konstas play in Sydney will be a true full-circle moment. Her loyalties are somewhat divided – especially since she comes from the same state as Sunil Gavaskar, her cricketing hero growing up, and whose name is on the series trophy.
“I tell people who ask me when it’s an India vs Australia game: one is my mum [India], one is my mum-in-law [Australia], and I can’t choose between the two, so may the best team win,” she said.
“But to be honest, now that Sam’s playing, everything has changed. As I told Sam, years ago, ‘When you play for Australia, I’ll go for you – period’.”
The occasion will be tinged with sadness. Subodh died suddenly, aged just 55, on Australia Day last year.
On the day of his funeral, Konstas scored a century for Australia’s under-19s – and on Boxing Day, when he made his debut with an instant-classic innings of 60, it was 11 months to the day since Subodh died.
“It was as if Subodh was watching him from above,” Manisha said.
“The best memories I have of Subodh are in cricket, with the team. Seeing Sam play so well … it’s reviving those memories, and it helps take some of the pain away.”
