Australia's next opener? Weatherald enjoying cricket 'like I did as a kid'

But unlike a lot of modern professionals in Australia, who rely almost exclusively on coaches in the system to oversee their batting, Weatherald has leaned on an external figure, too. Tom Scollay, a former Middlesex batter and long-time grade cricketer based in Perth, has built a successful private coaching business in Western Australia and Weatherald has worked with him extensively since meeting him through current Victoria coach Chris Rogers.”He’s someone I can feed off outside of the system, and someone that can give me a fresh pair of eyes, and someone’s that’s going to give me an honest opinion about what’s going on,” Weatherald says. “We went to India together. He provides opportunities for me to go train in different conditions, and that relationship is really cool.”He also credits time spent with former Australia wicketkeeper-batter Matthew Wade in his first season in Tasmania. There are some parallels between Wade’s late-career renaissance as an all-format batter for Australia and what Weatherald is doing now. Wade’s Test recall in the 2019 Ashes came off the back of a 1021-run season with Tasmania in 2018-19, the last 1000-plus run season by a batter in the Shield alongside Marcus Harris that same year.There are also parallels in the method, with Weatherald’s set-up looking much more akin to Wade’s compact position than his earlier more upright stance when playing for South Australia.Jake Weatherald is a stroke-maker at the top of the order•Getty Images”We worked on some little technical things, obviously triggering and then little shifts that happened the year I wasn’t playing for Tasmania, or wasn’t getting selected,” Weatherald says. “I felt like I was the same player I am right now when I made those changes. I was hitting the ball just as well then as I am now, I just couldn’t get a game.”Once I made those shifts mentally about my prep, like how I was going to go about my batting and how I was going to lead into games, how I wanted to feel, how I wanted to hit the ball, what I wanted to do in terms of training, I had so much information from what hadn’t worked and what had worked. And now I’m just in a zone. I know this stuff works for now.”Obviously I can’t predict the future but I’m in a place that I’ve got confidence in my game. I don’t know how long that lasts for, but I’ve got confidence in my process.”So much confidence in fact, he has not been afraid to state publicly that he wants to play in the Ashes. “It’s just not beating around the bush,” he says. “I don’t think anyone in state cricket is ever sitting there thinking they don’t want to play for Australia. Obviously, I’ve done well, I feel like I’m going well.”The question is, do you want to play? For sure, absolutely. And that’s all I can say.”His style suggests he would be a good fit. His stroke-play would mesh nicely with a top-order that has at times been unable to assert pressure back on Test attacks in home conditions.

He is a well-known quantity within the dressing rooms, too, having played a lot of cricket recently with Beau Webster, and having been long-time team-mates with Alex Carey and Head in South Australia. Weatherald takes great inspiration from the latter’s success at Test level.”He’s someone I sit there and just absolutely have always admired his mindset,” he says. “He’s probably someone I’ve looked at the most and said, that’s the most mentally healthy person I’ve ever seen play cricket.”But if it doesn’t happen, Weatherald won’t worry too much. He’s committed to Tasmania after extending his contract and excited about joining Hobart Hurricanes in the BBL, where he thinks he and Webster may be “running the drinks” in Hurricanes title defence. It is easy to forget that Weatherald has scored a century in a winning BBL final.He was unperturbed by missing selection on the Australia A tour of India that takes place before the start of the Shield season despite scoring 54 and 183 for Australia A in his only two innings of the recent series against Sri Lanka A. Bailey assured him of the selectors’ thinking around sending a younger group to India with longer-term development in mind.Jake Weatherald celebrates a century last season against Queensland•Getty ImagesWeatherald has continued to play, turning out for his home club Darwin in the Darwin and Districts competition. It is rare for players on the cusp of international selection to play club cricket these days. Weatherald has instead cracked two centuries in eight club games, in between proudly representing Northern Territory in the Top End T20 series which is largely being played by fringe and developing domestic players.”I’m obviously thinking about red-ball cricket probably a lot more than my T20 stuff, but at the same time it’s a good opportunity to come back represent Northern Territory,” Weatherald says. “The facilities here are amazing. I get to play with some mates that I grew up with and some new friends. So it’s a pretty cool experience.”It helps that the fishing is good, too. Instead of trying to lure bream on the banks of the ice-cold Derwent River or Browns Creek in Tasmania, something he loves to do during the summer to take his mind away from the game, he is planning a five-day fishing trip with some mates to East Alligator River in the Northern Territory in search of some big barramundi.Weatherald will have some music blaring too. He is in an old soul with a passion for classic rock and the blues.”I love my guitar, I love playing,” he says. “Not that I’m any good at it. All my idols are all musicians. Maybe not the lifestyle they lived, but in terms of inspiration around cricket I’ve always had them as my idols.”I love Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix and Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits. I just enjoy the fact that they were able to go out and do things that wowed everyone.”That’s always what I wanted to do as a cricketer.”