Jake Weatherald is the freshest and most talked about player who has already grabbed the limelight after he overtook Sam Konstas and Matt Renshaw in the Ashes squad selection. The 15-member team led by Steve Smith has already been disclosed by Australia and it is the first Ashes Test against England. Nevertheless, the focus is mainly on the 31-year-old Tasmanian player who managed to secure a place as the opening batter by winning the last minute selection race.
Weatherald has been an absolute monster with the bat due to his aggressive style of playing at the top order and he has also delivered several outstanding performances in the Sheffield Shield.
What makes Jake Weatherald such a powerful name?
It was the consistency of Weatherald that made the selection chairman George Bailey choose him, being that a lot of people are not even familiar with the left-hander, who has also been a part of the T20 teams like the Quetta Gladiators and the Adelaide Strikers…
Jake Weatherald shot to fame during his first-class debut season in 2015-16 when he scored a rapid-fire 50 for South Australia against Victoria in the Sheffield Shield final. Since then, he has participated in 76 red-ball domestic matches and has accumulated 5,269 runs at an average of 37.63. He has faced 9,256 balls for this accomplishment while hitting 13 centuries and 26 half-centuries.
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Weatherald’s early days were modest
But then again, Weatherald’s road was all the way through the ranks, opening in 2013. The Terra Australis-born cricketer received his first break in the Western Premier League. Consequently, he had great performances and his outstanding performance against Papua New Guinea was one of them. Then, he went for grade cricket in South Australia and played Sturt as a wicketkeeper-batter.
By the way, Jake Weatherald was the Premier League’s top run-scorer, and for that matter, he was the highest run-scorer in Australian domestic cricket of the age below 25 from December 11, 2015, to December 9, 2016. Besides that, he was the runner-up for the 2017 Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year award, won by Hilton Cartwright.
Jake gets a call to the national team after twelve years of cricket
In terms of the duration of his career, Jake is almost at the end of cricket in case he considers the time; however, his first Test cap is ready for him on November 21.
Mike Hussey, the veteran Australian cricketer, called the selection a “reward” for those domestic players who have been working at the lower levels and, thus, gradually changing the situation.
“It’s a really good selection because he’s done well for Tassie over the last couple of years. He wears the leading run-scorer’s cap in Shield cricket so I like to see them rewarding guys who are dominating the level below,” Hussey said.
Moreover, even though the playing XI or batting order has not been settled yet, it is obvious that it is Jake’s good way of playing that has been his winning ticket, adding a contrasting style to the solid Usman Khawaja at the top.
