Relax, Australia: confected outrage about Sam Konstas hides the real issue | Barney Ronay
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The energy expended on my ‘Ashes war of words’ would be better directed at the fight for the future of Test cricket. Australia: an apology. Earlier this week I wrote an article that compared one of that nation’s brightest sporting stars to a comedic figure with a short-lived pop celebrity lifespan, causing outrage among Australia’s media and elite cricketers. It was cheap, disrespectful and unfair. It is now time to make amends. Raygun, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I compared you to Sam Konstas.
![[Barney Ronay]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2022/11/21/Barney_Ronay.png?width=180&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Joke! Just a joke. It was all just a joke. In fact, it was a single line buried 1,400 words into a 1,700-word article about the future of Test cricket. Referring to the fevered public reaction to Konstas scoring an unorthodox half-century on his Test debut, I wrote: “There was a sense during the India series of Konstas being installed as a cricketing version of Raygun the Olympic breakdancer, a fun, gimmicky approximation of the real thing.”.
![[Sam Konstas had the confidence and nerve to take on India’s great fast bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, with bat and words, despite being only 19]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/222cf34dc30b03591740cfbe61009ab68151def7/0_0_5856_3904/master/5856.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
This remark appears to have upset, if not the Australian people, who didn’t notice, then certain Australian media outlets. Fox Sports kicked off with an article headlined “Cricket’s Raygun” Poms in Bizarre Meltdown over Konstas. At which point the machine clicked into gear.
Channel Seven TV News broadcast a scandalised bulletin warning of “a pre-Ashes attack on Sam Konstas from the English media who have labelled him the Raygun of cricket”. This includes a section where the offending text is read out in a weird drawling AI voice, making it quite clear that what we’re dealing with here is some kind of fey, sneering English robo-eunuch.
