Sam Konstas opens up on the pain of being axed for the Ashes and excitement of teaming up with David Warner in the BBL

That’s not to say he didn’t see it coming, didn’t understand why he was left out, or that he wished any ill-will to Jake Weatherald, who took his place at the top of the Australian order.

However Konstas’ purported comfort in his own skin belies an inner drive. You don’t play Test cricket as a teenager without a healthy dose of ambition.

So even though Konstas may be young enough to have been born after the 2005 Ashes, he appreciated the opportunity that had been up for grabs this summer, and was disappointed when the bad news was confirmed by Australian selection chair George Bailey on a Wednesday morning in early November.

“Obviously it was a bit tough,” Konstas told this masthead in his guise as a Channel 7 ambassador.

“I got the call from George saying I wasn’t in the Ashes squad. I think as an athlete, it’s going to happen over time. And for me, obviously it did hurt a little bit, but it’s all part of the journey. And for me, (the goal is) just to become a better cricketer. So yeah, hopefully I can get back in the (Aussie) squad if I do keep going well, and just focus on the next games I play.”

There was nothing out of the box about the chat with Bailey. It wasn’t the first time Konstas had been dropped from the Test side, having been left out in Sri Lanka at the start of the year, and an underwhelming start to the Sheffield Shield season meant it would have been much more of a surprise had Konstas been included than what actually happened.

Bailey’s message was a classic of the genre.

“Nothing much, to be honest,” Konstas recalls

“Just score runs, no matter what level I play at, whether that’s Big Bash, Shield cricket, yeah, just to keep getting better and learning from every experience.”

And there has been plenty of experience. At a time when most of his contemporaries from Australia’s title-winning under-19 World Cup side from last year are plugging away on the fringes of their respective state sides, Konstas has come and gone twice from the Test team and become a household name courtesy of his extraordinary feats on Boxing Day last year.

So it is easy to forget that Konstas is still very much in the formative stages of his career.

He had gone nine innings without a half-century in professional cricket before a drought-breaking ton for NSW in the Blues’ Shield win over Queensland earlier this month.

No domestic player was being scrutinised by the public as closely as Konstas, meaning that a handful of unsightly dismissals became easy headline fodder.

Behind the scenes though, Konstas has been working closely with mentor and former Test star Shane Watson, as well as Blues coach Greg Shipperd.

“I love working with Shippy,” Konstas said of the veteran coach, 49 years his senior, with whom the tyro has been able to have “honest conversations.”

“He’s very supportive. We’re very honest with each other with our opinions and how we’re going to go about things. And the most impressive thing about him is just he’s willing to help players, and fully believe in them as well.

“So obviously, we’ve (NSW have) got a very young group, and we haven’t had the success we would have liked, but feel like we’re heading in the right direction to something special, and hopefully we can showcase that after Big Bash season with Shield cricket.”

Konstas now turns his attention to the BBL, where he will join forces with an even bigger name in cricket: his Sydney Thunder opening partner and captain David Warner.

“He’s been very supportive of me and helped me a lot throughout my career,” Konstas said of Warner.

“His leadership, everyone looks up to him. He is very energetic and shares his opinions with his amount of knowledge he’s had across the whole world playing different conditions. So very lucky to be playing with the best.

“I remember when I was a kid watching him play on TV, and I’m just very lucky enough to be playing with him and opening the batting for Thunder.

“I just like his aggressive mindset, him taking on the game, being an aggressive captain and being fearless. I think that’s the key messaging that he spreads across myself and our whole team, just understanding what risks to take and to fully commit.”

For his part, Warner – working on Kayo Sports’ Ashes coverage – is optimistic Konstas can heed the lessons of his bumpy career to date.

“He just needs to work out what gears he wants to play at,” Warner said.

“Making sure that everything for him is smooth transition, if he gets that opportunity again, which I think in time he will. He just needs reflect on what it’s like to play for Australia, what it takes to play at that level. It’s all around playing the game, the media, the lead-ups.”