Konstas joins the game's greats with the second Shield ton

If history provided a reliable guide, Australian cricket might have unearthed its next batting wonder.

While no one is seriously suggesting that Sam Konstas is still in contention for a place in the men's Test team, his double century for New South Wales in the season-opening Sheffield Shield match against South Australia puts him alongside some of the game's true greats.

Two days after posting 152 to record his maiden first-class hundred, Konstas bounced back with 105 in the Blues' second innings today as his team took control of the match at Cricket Central.

The teenage opener put NSW in control of their clash with South Australia at Cricket Central, allowing the hosts to declare at 6-282 late on Thursday.

South Australia were 1-7 chasing 389 runs for victory after Nathan Lyon struck early and Connor McInerney dismissed without scoring.

After celebrating his 19th birthday just eight days ago, Konstas became the third youngest to post hundreds in both innings of a Shield match, behind ex-Test legends Ricky Ponting and Archie Jackson.

Ponting achieved the feat in 1993 at the age of 18 years and 85 days, scoring 107 and 100 not batting at number four on his home track in Bellerive, against a Western Australia attack that included Test bowlers Jo Angel, Brendon Julian and Tom Moody.

Within two years, Ponting was selected for the first of his 168 Test appearances.

Jackson, who made his debut for NSW as a 17-year-old, was 18 years and 124 days old and in his 10th Sheffield Shield match when he added 122 to the 137 he posted in the first innings against SA at the SCG in January 1928.

It was also Jackson's first Shield appearance as an opener and just a year later he was appointed to fill that role for Australia against England at Adelaide Oval, plundering 164 in his first Test innings.

Even the incomparable Don Bradman was in his sixth Shield appearance and had recently turned 20 before registering the milestone by scoring 131 and 133 no against Queensland at Brisbane's Exhibition Ground in 1928.

Konstas's match total of 257 was also the highest in the Shield competition for a batsman under the age of 20, eclipsing Doug Walters' 253 (although scored in one innings) aged 19 years and 46 days for NSW against SA 60 years ago.

Jackson and Walters both earned Baggy Green Caps at age 19, while Ponting was 11 days shy of his 21st birthday when he received his.

Konstas has already achieved international success earlier this year as a key part of Australia's Under-19 World Cup-winning team in South Africa, where he scored a century against the West Indies.

But even that tournament win must have paled next to his two stunning knocks in the last three days, which were witnessed first-hand by national selection panel chairman George Bailey and Test skipper Pat Cummins, who was at Cricket Central on Tuesday.

In just his fifth Shield appearance, Konstas plundered 13 boundaries and four sixes in his maiden century, which was marked by precision by driving offside when SA's bowlers offered him width.

But the opener, whose batting coach is former Bangladesh first-class player Tahmid Islam, with ex-Australian all-rounder Shane Watson as mindfulness mentor, also showed a willingness to stick to all things short and nimble footwork against spin.

All four of Konstas' sixes in the first innings came from big strokes over mid-on and mid-wicket, and it was another slog sweep beyond the boundary off Ben Manenti that took him to his historic hundred today.

Even before that ball had landed deep in mid-wicket, he was walking towards his NSW teammates in the dugout, proudly pointing to the Blues logo on his shirt.

“I thought it was a bit rougher today. I thought they bowled really well, but I'm happy with that result,” Konstas said after his second hundred of the match.

“They (SA) had different plans, they were bowling the wider ones, and the way I was going to approach that was different.

“I had to be a bit ruthless and watch my medication a bit and I was lucky to get to 100 today.

His performance on the first day of the Shield season had made Konstas the youngest New South Wales batsman since Kurtis Patterson (in 2011–12) to score 150 or more.

Patterson, the latest Blues player to earn a Baggy Green Cap when called up against Sri Lanka in 2019, was 18 years and 236 days old when he scored 157 against WA at the SCG.

And only two other players, Marcus Harris (157 for WA against Queensland in 2010-11) and Clem Hill (206 no for SA against NSW at the SCG in 1895-96) can claim a Shield rating of 150-plus before reaching 19 become.

In contrast to his largely flawless 152 on Tuesday, Kostas got a few reprieves today during his nearly five-hour innings.

He was missed before he had scored when Test keeper Alex Carey chested a chance to Nathan McAndrew in the second over of the Blues innings.

And on 21 he missed a pull-off Brendan Doggett that narrowly avoided Henry Hunt, who dived full length after sprinting in from the deep mid-wicket boundary.

But for much of the rest of his stay, the prolific points scorer in Sydney's underage games since the age of 10 remained in control and unfazed until he unselfishly holed out deep in the middle of the match in pursuit of quick runs when an explanation emerged.

“Sam Konstas is, from a batting perspective, one of the most mature young players I have come across,” NSW coach Greg Shipperd had previously told cricket.com.au before the current season got underway.

“He has a real poise about himself at the crease.

“But he also has a very open mind about batting.

“His work ethic is great.

“So he fits into our team like a glove and there is just certainty about his play.

“I think he can go all the way, I'm pretty sure.”

Earlier, off-spinner Lyon continued an impressive run to the Test summer, capping his first appearance of the summer with a five-wicket haul.

Lyon (5-47) made quick work of the South Australian tail and was all out for 260.

Lyon expects to play two more matches for NSW ahead of the five-match series against India starting in Perth late next month.