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Sam Konstas has been encouraged to play at the tempo he feels is right in the upcoming four-day series against India A in Lucknow as he begins a run of first-class cricket that will determine his immediate Test future.After making 50 runs in six innings against West Indies, Konstas’ mission to save his Test place starts this week. While what happens in the Sheffield Shield during October will likely prove more relevant than the two games in India there will still be eyes on how he performs, especially in the second match when India A are expected to field Mohammed Siraj in their attack.Related

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Australia A are coached by former national captain Tim Paine and he hasn’t prescribed any particular way that Konstas should go about his work. Konstas has struggled to find a consistent batting rhythm early in his Test career which started with the barnstorming 60 off 65 balls against India at the MCG before he was confronted by tough conditions in West Indies.”I think at times you’ll see some of that [the more aggressive side], but I think people forget that Sam’s still only 19 years of age,” Paine told reporters in Lucknow. “So he’s a long way from being the finished product.”Clearly in Australia we know he’s got a lot of talent. We think he’s going to be a star at international cricket at some stage. He’s obviously in the team, or was in the team, at the moment. But he’s still finding his way [and] what’s the best way for him to play.”At times he’s going to be super aggressive. Other times he’ll trust his defence. He’s working that out and figuring out when and why he needs to do it both. We’ll encourage him this series to play it as he sees it.”There’s going to be times where it’s hard and he’ll have to soak up pressure, but when he’s feeling good and he’s on top we’ll back him in to go hard and put the opposition under pressure. He’s exciting. [You] don’t know what you’re going to get sometimes but that’s a great part of watching him.”Konstas scored a century in a recent New South Wales pre-season game and vastly experienced state coach Greg Shipperd, who has helped mentor him early in his professional career, has seen good signs in his response from a tough tour.Sam Konstas faces a crucial six weeks•AFP/Getty Images

“I have to concur with Usman Khawaja’s recent story about how difficult the wickets were over there,” Shipperd said. “You were able to see that as well, how difficult it was. I think he may have got stuck into a process of not moving his feet as much as we’d like him to in terms of responding to what’s delivered his way and which we’ve seen him concentrate and focus on in his time in preparation here.”The work ethic is fantastic. I think he’s got a lot more clarity about how he wants to go about his cricket and his preparation has been first class. A hundred out here the other day was a good signal to the adjustments that he’s made out of the West Indies, so I’m really confident that he’ll score some heavy runs for us in that first four or so games before that international series begins.”While as the incumbent Test opener Konstas will have most attention him, the Australia A squad also includes Nathan McSweeney who opened last season against India and the highly-rated Victoria left-hander Campbell Kellaway.”Certainly the guy sitting next to me [McSweeney] is right on the cusp,” Paine said. “If he does well here and scores runs at the start of the Shield year, which isn’t too far away, then there’s certainly some positions in that [Test] team come late November that are up for grabs. There’s a couple here and there’s a couple back in Australia that if they start well, they’re going to be right in the mix.”

Warwickshire 140 for 2 (Mousley 54*, Davies 52) trail Essex 602 for 6 dec (Westley 134, Allison 133, Pepper 107*, Walter 86) by 462 runs Dan Mousley led the Warwickshire fightback to Essex’s mammoth first-innings total with an innings that belied the gravity of the situation facing the visitors in the Rothesay County Championship match at Chelmsford.The imposing right-hander clocked up only his third half-century of the season, but at a rate of more than a run-a-ball. It was in contrast to his more measured captain Alex Davies, who went along at half the rate in a second-innings stand of 86 that pulled Warwickshire back into the game.Though Davies departed for 52 from 116 balls, stumped by the alert Michael Pepper to give Matt Critchley a second wicket of the innings, Mousley was still there at the end with 54 from 53 balls and Warwickshire 140 for 2.It had been a chastening day and a half in the field for Warwickshire after Davies put Essex in as Essex rattled up 602 for 5 declared on an unresponsive, green-tinged pitch. Along the way there were three Essex centurions, curiously all scoring their third three-figure scores of the season. Tom Westley’s 134 was followed by Charlie Allison and Pepper, who combined in a 38-over, sixth-wicket stand of 195, the largest partnership in an innings of large partnerships.Either side of a mid-afternoon rain break, it was carnage as the pair sensed the impending declaration and went for broke. The declaration duly arrived when Allison departed after four hours, caught at deep midwicket, for 133 from 202 balls with 17 fours and two sixes. That left Pepper unbeaten on 107 from just 117 balls, including 11 fours and two sixes.It would not have escaped Warwickshire’s notice that Allison was not even in the Essex XI announced at the toss, but was drafted in at short notice, without argument, when Simon Harmer dropped out for “personal reasons”.Before his partnership with Pepper, Allison also put on 91 for the fifth wicket with Westley. 57 of them in the morning. Westley added 24 to his overnight 124 before he was finally dismissed after a stay of more than six hours, caught at short fine leg turning Beau Webster off his legs. Significantly, the pair had carried Essex to a fourth batting point with four balls to spare.Westley had laced his 278-ball innings with 17 fours, a large portion of them driven elegantly through the covers. At the other end, Allison followed closely in Westley’s footsteps, punching fours through the off-side, though also comfortable enough to reverse-sweep Corey Rocchiccioli for four. He reached his fifty from 85 balls when he turned the Australian off-spinner for a single.The incoming Pepper did not hang about. He swept Rocchiccioli for an emphatic boundary to get off the mark and added four more with a late cut off Webster. The wicketkeeper-batsman went to lunch on 33, at which point he was presented with his county cap; little more than quarter-of-an-hour after the restart he had reached his half-century with a tap into the off-side off Rob Yates.Despite his rate of scoring, Pepper was beaten to his hundred by Allison, who helped a wayward legside delivery from Mousley for his 14th boundary. After a 25-minute rain break, Pepper made it to his century, having taken just two hours and 15 minutes of improvised nudges and paddles. Two balls later he celebrated by driving Yates straight for six. Not long afterwards Warwickshire were put out of their misery.Essex found the Kookaburra ball just as unhelpful when Warwickshire set out with the initial target of 453 to avoid following on. Yates and Davies made a competent start, passing 50 in 21 overs, Davies hammering Jamie Porter for successive boundaries before Matt Critchley made the breakthrough. Given the rare opportunity to take the main spin-bowling role in Harmer’s absence, Critchley had Yates retreating on to the backfoot and lbw to one that turned and reared up.Mousley brought Critchley down to earth when he slammed him straight back down the ground for six and reached his fifty from just 46 balls.