David Warner has fired back at the UK press after 19-year-old Australian Test opener Sam Konstas was described by one respected English sports writer as cricket’s version of Raygun.

Audacious shots, patchy form and lippy exchanges defined the first two matches of Konstas’ Test career and have made him a prime target for the UK media and English fans ahead of next summer’s Ashes in Australia.

English sports writer Barney Ronay this week likened Konstas to Rachael “Raygun” Gunn, who shot to global infamy on the back of comical breakdancing performances at the Paris Olympics.

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“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,” Ronay wrote in a column for The Guardian.

“This is a nation that seems convinced the future of cricket is a spunky, mulletted, wispy-moustachioed bloke who hasn’t scored any runs but whacks it in interesting ways.

“But what are the odds he has already made his highest Test score?”

Konstas left the cricket world staggered in his debut Test innings on the first morning of the Boxing Day Test, in which he played a series of ramp shots against the bowling of one of the greatest quicks of all time, Jasprit Bumrah.

The teenager from Sydney’s south hammered 60 runs from 65 balls in front of 87,000 at the top of the order in that innings, including six fours and two sixes.

But since then he’s registered scores of 8, 23 and 22, and the T20-style fashion in which he scored most of those runs has left some people believing he’s just a slogger who won’t last much longer in Test cricket.

The brash demeanour with which he’s carried himself early in his Test career, perhaps most evident in his chirpy encounter with Bumrah in Sydney that left the champion fast bowler seeing red, has also polarised opinion.

For more than a decade, Warner was painted as a pantomime villain by the UK press and English fans, and the retired Test opener is Konstas’ captain and opening partner at the Sydney Thunder.

“Thankfully news doesn’t travel from that side of the world to Australia, unless you read the Daily Mail,” said Warner, who will skipper the Thunder against the Sydney Sixers at the SCG on Friday night.

“My point of view with Sam is just to let it go.

“At the end of the day, it makes you perform better.

“You know they want you to fail, but by you performing, it shuts them up.

“I can’t wait for the Barmy Army to actually come out next year. I might be able to throw a few barbs from the commentary box [as a Fox commentator].

“It’s always going to be a great series. It’d be exciting for him to be a part of that, permitting form.”

Konstas appears to be dealing with his critics with ease.

“I’m just loving life, just trying to be in the moment,” the young gun told reporters on Thursday.

“I don’t get too fazed by what other people say. Obviously, they’ve got their opinions, but I’m just trying to be me and just be authentic.

“I’m just in my bubble, really. My phone’s been blowing up these past few days, as well. I’ve got close family and I know what’s right for me. [I’m] just trying to focus on tomorrow’s game and be in the present.”

England hasn’t won an Ashes series, at home or away, since defeating Australia in the UK in 2015.

The urn remains in Australia’s hands after Pat Cummins’ men retained the Ashes in a 2-2 series draw in 2023.

“I remember when I was a kid watching Mitchell Johnson play Alastair Cook and all those legends,” Konstas said.

“Hopefully if I do get an opportunity, I’ll take it with both hands.”

Captained by Steve Smith, Australia will face Sri Lanka in a two-Test series in Galle beginning on January 29.

Konstas was named in a 16-man squad for the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy series, but there are murmurs of Travis Head potentially taking the spot of either Konstas or Usman Khawaja at the top of the order in Sri Lanka.

Cummins will miss the series for the birth of his second child.