Jake Weatherald was a 29-year-old unable to crack the Sheffield Shield two seasons ago. Now he is opening the batting for Australia in an Ashes series
The last time Jake Weatherald walked out of the home change rooms for a Sheffield Shield match at South Australia, he was a man with his career at a crossroads.
On Wednesday, he will return as a Test opening batter preparing to try to help wrap up an Ashes series for Australia.
Weatherald’s rise to Test selection is one of the most remarkable this century, considering he was a 29-year-old overlooked in Shield cricket two summers ago.
The opener’s last game for South Australia came in December 2022, before he took a mental health leave and opted to change scenery to Tasmania for the next summer.
Never short on talent, consistency had been Weatherald’s biggest issue.
In eight seasons at South Australia, Weatherald had hit nine centuries, with his 3837 runs having come at an average of 34.26.
On moving to Tasmania he found himself behind Caleb Jewell and Tim Ward in the pecking order, granted just one Shield match in the 2023-24 season.
But the powerful left-hander’s resurgence can be traced back to second XI game for Tasmania two seasons ago, with an unbeaten fourth-innings 223 against Victoria.
“He was in for the long haul and had the bit between his teeth to prove how good he was,” Andrew Gale, who coached Tasmania’s second XI team that day, told AAP.
“We knocked over 400 off in that game in the fourth innings. And had we been chasing 800, he’d still be batting now.
“He was in that sort of mindset that no one was getting him out.”
A Shield return didn’t come after the Big Bash break, but for the first time in Weatherald’s career, consistent runs did.
Between Tasmanian premier cricket and second XI, Weatherald passed 50 in five straight matches, including a 133 for his club side Kingborough in the final.
“You could tell that it was a second coming for him and he was hungry,” Gale said.
“Having come down and wanted to prove himself, it probably was a knock back for him that he found himself out of the team pretty early on.
“It shows how resilient he is to not only come back from it, but dominate.
“A lot of players could have sulked and felt sorry for themselves, but he didn’t.”
Since that summer, bulk runs and consistency have become Weatherald’s calling card.
Regular runs followed the next winter in club cricket in England, before he was Tasmania’s leading Shield scorer last summer with 906 at 50.33.
That flowed into a hefty 183 for Australia A against Sri Lanka in July, before Weatherald finished the winter with three more tons in Darwin A-Grade cricket.
Come Wednesday, he will return to Adelaide Oval in a far different spot than the man who left at the end of 2022-23 – fresh from his first Test half-century in Brisbane, where he made 72 and 17 not out.
“We all knew his ability. He’s just been able to produce consistent scores,” South Australian Alex Carey said.
“Jake has always had that really good scoring ability, but for him to leave certain balls and understand where he scores (has improved).
“I think maturity comes, and when you get a little bit older you understand your game and scoring.”
2025-26 NRMA Insurance Men’s Ashes
First Test: Australia won by eight wickets
Second Test: Australia won by eight wickets
Third Test: December 17-21: Adelaide Oval, 10:30am AEDT
Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10:30am AEDT
Fifth Test: January 4-8: SCG, Sydney, 10:30am AEDT
Australia squad (third Test only): Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster
England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook (vc), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Matthew Fisher, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue
