Former captain Steve Waugh drew parallels for Sam Konstas with the rocky start to his own Test career while chief selector George Bailey had encouraging words for the 20-year-old.

After a tough tour of the West Indies, where he made just 50 runs in six innings, Konstas’ fate was sealed by an indifferent start to the Sheffield Shield season, where
he has got one half-century in six innings.

“I feel for Sammy — I feel like at the moment if he farts, it’s a headline,” said Bailey. “We really like him … we like the skill set there, (we’re) confident that over the long run it’ll continue to build out.”

Waugh — who spoke alongside the Waterford Crystal Ashes trophy, which is starting a tour of Australia — made his Test debut aged 20 against India on Boxing Day at the MCG. He didn’t make a century until his 27th appearance, against England at the start of the 1989 Ashes.

“I feel a little bit sorry for Sam Konstas,” the former skipper said. “He’s been in and out of the side a bit, and it actually reminds me a bit of myself when I first started playing for Australia. Not fully confident of being in the side, and up and down, and form not quite there. So he’s probably lacking a bit of confidence.

“(My advice to Konstas would be) not to listen to everybody. Just trust one or two people around you. Go back to basics. At the end of the day, it’s really hard to learn how to play Test cricket while you’re playing Test cricket, and that’s what happened to me for a few years.

“I wasn’t really that finished product. I’d go back to Shield cricket, try and build some long innings, bat for as long as you can...”