{"id":141519,"date":"2025-09-16T16:38:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T16:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/141519\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T16:38:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T16:38:10","slug":"ashes-opening-contender-smashes-hundred-in-first-session-of-unofficial-australia-a-india-a-test-ind-a-vs-aus-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/141519\/","title":{"rendered":"Ashes Opening Contender Smashes Hundred In First Session Of Unofficial Australia A-India A Test | IND A Vs AUS A"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200px\" height=\"675px\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/dWeigR98xJ.jpg\"  alt=\"Sam Konstas plays a shot on the first day of the fourth cricket Test match between Australia and India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Melbourne on December 26, 2024\" importance=\"low\" class=\"lazy\"\/>  <\/p>\n<p class=\"drop-cap-intro\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wisden.com\/players\/sam-konstas-110298\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Sam Konstas<\/a> smashed a blazing hundred in the first session of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wisden.com\/cricket-news\/india-a-vs-australia-a-2025-live-updates-score-commentary-first-unofficial-test-four-day-lucknow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">first unofficial Test between Australia A and India A<\/a> in Lucknow.<\/p>\n<p>Batting first, Australia got off to a rollicking start, scoring 198 for the first wicket. Australia Test opener Konstas scored a hundred off 122 balls with the help of 10 fours and three sixes. This is his third first-class hundred, having <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wisden.com\/cricket-news\/teenage-aussie-opener-equals-longstanding-ricky-ponting-sheffield-shield-feat\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">scored twin centuries in a Sheffield Shield match in October last year<\/a>. Konstas&#8217; batting partner, Campbell Kellaway, was also looking well set for a hundred, but he fell for 88 off 97 balls, an innings laced with 10 fours and two sixes.<\/p>\n<p>Konstas became only the third Australian opener this century to score a hundred in the first session of a first-class match after David Warner and Shane Watson.<\/p>\n<p>He was eventually dismissed for 109 off 144 balls, bowled by Harsh Dubey, the highest wicket-taker in the Ranji Trophy last season. Konstas&#8217; wicket led to a mini-collapse for Australia as they slipped from 198-0 to 224-4.<\/p>\n<p>  Sam Konstas rebounds after poor form <\/p>\n<p>In December last year, Konstas, 19, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wisden.com\/series\/australia-vs-india-m-202425\/cricket-news\/youngest-openers-with-test-fifties-sam-konstas-mcg-aus-vs-ind\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">became the youngest Australian opener to hit a Test fifty<\/a>, having scored a 65-ball 60 on debut against India in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. However, his career didn&#8217;t take off as expected from thereon, with him scoring just 95 runs at an average of 11.87 in his next four matches. He struggled against the West Indies in a three-Test series in June-July, where he scored just 50 runs at 8.33. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wisden.com\/series\/west-indies-vs-australia-m-2025\/cricket-news\/50-runs-in-six-innings-teenage-australia-openers-sam-konstas-ashes-place-in-doubt-after-slumping-to-41-year-low\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">That average was the lowest by an Australian opener in a three-match Test series in 41 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Amid mounting pressure, Kontas&#8217;s timely first-class hundred in challenging subcontinental conditions puts him back in contention to be one of Australia&#8217;s openers for the upcoming Ashes.<\/p>\n<p>Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wisden.com\/live-cricket-scores\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" data-stringify-link=\"https:\/\/www.wisden.com\/live-cricket-scores\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\" class=\"c-link c-link--underline\">live scores<\/a>, match stats, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wisden.com\/quizzes\/daily-quiz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" data-stringify-link=\"https:\/\/www.wisden.com\/quizzes\/daily-quiz\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\" aria-describedby=\"sk-tooltip-14407\" class=\"c-link c-link--underline\">quizzes<\/a> and more. Stay up to date with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wisden.com\/cricket-news\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" data-stringify-link=\"https:\/\/www.wisden.com\/cricket-news\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\" class=\"c-link c-link--underline\">latest cricket news<\/a>, player updates, team <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wisden.com\/series\/icc-mens-t20-world-cup-2024\/points-table-standings\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" data-stringify-link=\"https:\/\/www.wisden.com\/series\/icc-mens-t20-world-cup-2024\/points-table-standings\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\" class=\"c-link c-link--underline\">standings,<\/a> match highlights, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@WisdenCricket\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" data-stringify-link=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@WisdenCricket\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\" class=\"c-link c-link--underline\">video analysis<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wisden.com\/cricket-betting?utm_source=outro&amp;utm_medium=interlink&amp;utm_campaign=cricketbet_hub\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" data-stringify-link=\"https:\/\/www.wisden.com\/cricket-betting?utm_source=outro&amp;utm_medium=interlink&amp;utm_campaign=cricketbet_hub\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\" class=\"c-link c-link--underline\">live match odds<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> Cover StoriesTrending StoriesCover Stories AsiaCover Stories UKCover Stories IndiaSeries Cover Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Konstas smashed a blazing hundred in the first session of the first unofficial Test between Australia A&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-141519","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-cricket","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}