'Quite exciting': Jason Gillespie on Sam Konstas' call-up

NEW DELHI: Jason Gillespie, a former fast bowler for Australia, said it's thrilling to call up teenage opener Sam Konstas to the Test team for the fourth and fifth Test matches against India. He encourages the hosts to include the young player in the starting lineup.
Konstas would be the youngest player to play in the longer format since current captain Pat Cummins made his debut in 2011 and the fourth-youngest men's Test debutant in Australia's history if chosen for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, which begins on December 26.
"Get the young fella in. I'm never against giving young players an opportunity. Over the last few years, there hasn't been a lot of new blood, given the selectors and the coach value experience over everything else. This is quite exciting," said Gillespie on ABC's Summer Grandstand show on Saturday.
When he scored two hundreds against South Australia in the first round of the Sheffield Shield, Konstas shot to fame. Along with those twin hundreds, he became the first youngster since the great Ricky Ponting in 1993 to accomplish this feat in the Sheffield Shield.
As a member of the Australian side that won the U19 World Cup in South Africa this year, Konstas also struck a century in the Prime Minister's XI match against India on Canberra's Manuka Oval in the warn-up pink-ball match.
Konstas scored a half-century for his team, the Sydney Thunder, earlier this week, making him the youngest player in the BBL to do so.
Nathan McSweeney opened the first three Test matches until Konstas was called up. McSweeney had never opened in first-class cricket and scored 72 runs at an average of 14.40 in the first three games.
"Disappointing for Nathan, given he probably did have the hardest introduction to Test cricket an opener has had, against one of the best bowlers in the world ... I'm really confident he'll come back a much better player," added Gillespie, recently quit as Pakistan's red-ball coach.
Former Australia skipper Mark Taylor also expressed similar views on McSweeney. "It's not the end of the world. He's played three Test matches now. He's been debuted, he knows what it's like, he knows where he needs to improve his game," he said to 9News.
Given that Mitchell Marsh hasn't been used much as a bowler, he also believes that seam-bowling all-rounder Beau Webster should be selected. "I think Australia should consider a fifth bowling option. Alex Carey in my opinion could move up from seven to six and someone like a Beau Webster could come in at seven."