Weatherald embracing the challenge of the Ashes prep irrespective of him getting a Test debut in Perth or not.
Weatherald embracing Ashes challenge whether or not debut call comes.
At Perth Stadium on Monday, Jake Weatherald and Usman Khawaja batted next to each other in adjacent nets.
Their positions are comparable, but that’s about the extent of their similarities as individuals and as athletes. Nonetheless, they have already established a connection as two distinct people eager to enjoy themselves together, at least in the public eye through the media.
Weatherald went first, saying on the Grade Cricketer podcast that even though he had played against Khawaja for ten years, he wasn’t sure whether the latter recognised his name. On Instagram, the video went viral. “Who this?” was Khawaja’s response to the message.
Weatherald carried on the good times on his first day in an Australian dressing room.
“He still calls me Jack, so we’ll get there eventually,” Weatherald told reporters on Monday. “Hopefully, if I get a game, he can find Jake there somewhere.”
Jokes aside, considering that Weatherald may be Khawaja’s seventh Test opening partner in the past two years, he may be excused for forgetting names.
The fact that Weatherald is still unsure if he will play four days after the first ball shows how uneasy Australia’s opening duo has been.
Weatherald’s advantage is that, at least in first-class cricket, he is the most seasoned opener of the six since David Warner’s retirement. He has opened the batting in each of his 145 first-class innings.
“I’ve played a little bit of Big Bash cricket here, but at the same time, to represent your country in a place like this, it’s such a cool stadium,” Weatherald said. “To look out and see what it looked like, obviously with everyone full and obviously walking out to bat, I was sort of imagining what it’d be like to go out there.”
He was dressed in his brand-new Australia whites, which had the number 66 on the back and his initials, JW, inscribed on them. Joe Root, his possible opponent this week, is wearing the same number. Given Weatherald’s love of rock and roll guitarists, it might very likely be a reference to Chuck Berry and “Route 66”.
But his shirt was lacking a number. On Monday, eleven of Australia’s thirteen squad members who had gathered in Perth for various media appearances also had their Test numbers engraved.
Brendan Doggett and Weatherald did not. By the end of the week, they might succeed. However, it served as a subliminal reminder of how unique this school is.