India A tour next for Konstas as Aussies explain contract loss

By Jonathan Healy

Australia selection chair George Bailey insists Sam Konstas remains in his future plans despite the fact the talented batter missed out on winning a new contract for the 2026/27 season.

The Aussies released a list of 21 players that have been awarded new contracts on Wednesday and Konstas' omission was one of the major talking points ahead of a busy upcoming ICC World Test Championship period that will see the side play 14 matches as part of the ongoing cycle.

While Konstas hasn't featured at international level since five Test match appearances against India and the West Indies across the end of 2024 and the early stages of 2025, the 20-year-old did finish with the fifth most runs during Australia's recently completed domestic Sheffield Shield competition.

Bailey confirmed the contract snub had nothing to do with Konstas' ability and that he expects the talented right-hander to have a bright future at international level.

"Nothing's really changed in terms of the fact that he's on a journey," Bailey said.

"Is he highly talented? Yes. Is he on a journey to become a complete and better player? Yes, as all players are.

"I thought we saw some promising signs towards the backend (of the domestic season).

"I think he was consistently getting starts. I think he was starting to think at the start of the season, there was a lot of chopping and changing around technique and methods at different times.

"It looked like that was settling and he was starting to find his feet in terms of what he wanted to knuckle down and commit to and what was working for him.

"I think we can take some positives out of the fact that he was getting consistent starts across those Shield games. Would he have liked to have gone on and scored some big runs out of that? No doubt, once you've done the hard work and got those starts. But he remains a player that we're incredibly interested in."

Bailey suggested Konstas will be in the mix to feature during an Australia A tour of India towards the backend of this year as he continues to learn his craft in a variety of overseas conditions.

"We've got an Australia A trip to India later in the year and I imagine as it stands at the moment, he's a strong chance to be a part of that," Bailey noted.

"We're still firmly interested in what his future holds.

"He's a young player who's going to go through ups and downs. We know that the high-end ability is there and then it's just about learning to navigate through the rest of it and continuing to grow his game."

Konstas' omission from the contracted players list worked in favour of incumbent Test opener Jake Weatherald, with the left-hander promoted to the 21-member group following mixed results across the recent Ashes series when he scored 201 runs at an average of 22.33.

Bailey suggested while Weatherald was likely to retain his role as Australia's first-choice opener for their next Test assignment at home against Bangladesh, he said his spot in the top-order was not certain.

"It's an indication. It's not a guarantee," Bailey said of Weatherald winning a contract.

"I think he's the incumbent in that role. He's had a few good years of really consistent first-class cricket as well. Not shying away from, I think there was a real plan and a target from England around some of the technical aspects of his game.

"But we think he can play and I think he's got a really good opportunity now. He's going to get a Leicestershire for a little bit and then he's got a good period of time bouncing out of that Ashes series."

Cricket Australia men's contracts for 2026-27: Xavier Bartlett, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Brendan Doggett, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster, Adam Zampa