Ponting backs Konstas to retain opening slot for Oz in Ashes

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has backed teen opener Sam Konstas to retain his place at the top of the order alongside Usman Khawaja for the all-important Ashes series, starting on Nov. 21 in Perth.

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Konstas struck a composed 109 and an unbeaten 27 in the first multi-day game against India A in Lucknow. The main point of contention for Australia has been whether the selectors would persist with Konstas or recall Marnus Labuschagne to the top six. Ponting, however, made his preference clear, without making any mention of Labuschagne.

"Everyone's been talking about how crucial these first four Sheffield Shield games are, particularly for some of our top order batters, and I agree with that.

"But I also feel that it's probably got almost to the point where it's too late to be making too many big wholesale changes to the current team going into an Ashes series. Konstas has obviously just done well. He made a hundred for Australia A over in India, which is exactly what he needed.