{"id":36921,"date":"2025-08-01T07:36:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T07:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/36921\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T07:36:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T07:36:08","slug":"jake-weatherald-reveals-george-bailey-phone-call-australia-a-century-ashes-video-highlights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/36921\/","title":{"rendered":"Jake Weatherald reveals George Bailey phone call, Australia A century, Ashes, video, highlights"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tasmanian opener Jake Weatherald has confessed that he\u2019s \u201cactively hunting\u201d a spot in Australia\u2019s Test side ahead of the Ashes, declaring that he\u2019s \u201cready to go\u201d if called upon.<\/p>\n

Weatherald thrust himself in the national conversation after finishing last summer\u2019s Sheffield Shield as the leading run-scorer with 906 runs at 50.33 and a healthy strike rate of 68.27, including three centuries and three fifties in ten matches.<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old further pressed his case last month<\/a> by cracking a stylish 183 during Australia A\u2019s second unofficial Test against Sri Lanka A in Darwin, his city of birth. The left-hander reached triple figures in just 146 deliveries, smacking 16 boundaries and two sixes during the 275-ball knock.<\/p>\n

Watch England vs India Test Series LIVE & EXCLUSIVE on Fox Cricket, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1 ><\/a><\/p>\n

Incumbent Australian opener Sam Konstas contributed 50 runs at 8.33 during the recent Frank Worrell Trophy campaign against the West Indies, with his Test batting average slipping to 16.30. Following the Caribbean tour, national coach Andrew McDonald suggested that Konstas would need to \u201cput some scores on the board\u201d in the Sheffield Shield to earn a maiden Ashes call-up.<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Konstas\u2019 struggles, Weatherald looms as a left-field option to open alongside Usman Khawaja during the upcoming Ashes, while he\u2019s one of the leading candidates to replace the Queenslander whenever he decides to retire from Tests.<\/p>\n

Jake Weatherald of Tasmania. Photo by Steve Bell\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Speaking to SEN Tassie Breakfast<\/a> on Friday morning, Weatherald revealed that national selector George Bailey reached out to him following his Darwin marathon, vowing he would be rewarded with higher honours if the runs kept flowing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all just culminating at the right time,\u201d Weatherald said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the series, I was told, \u2018Congratulations. Well done on making the runs. How\u2019d you feel?\u2019, all of that sort of stuff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen they just sort of said, \u2018If you keep going well, then there are opportunities in the future\u2019, but that\u2019s about as far as it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked whether he hoped to open the batting during this summer\u2019s Ashes campaign, Weatherald responded: \u201cDefinitely. I\u2019m not going to lie, I\u2019m actively hunting that spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the Ashes coming up and with such a big opportunity to play for Australia, I think everyone is keen to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m driven to be in a team that\u2019s playing in the Ashes, and I think that\u2019s a good goal for myself. If it doesn\u2019t happen, it doesn\u2019t happen. But at the same time, it\u2019s a good driver for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, this part of the year when we\u2019re still months away, there\u2019s plenty of time to get ready, do the right things and put your name in lights when the opportunity comes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jake Weatherald at the crease against Sri Lanka A in Darwin. Picture: Cricket AustraliaSource: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n

After eight seasons with South Australia, Weatherald reinvigorated his first-class career by moving to Tasmania ahead of the 2023\/24 summer, since cementing himself as an integral member of the Tigers\u2019 starting XI.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in a period of my career where I feel as though I know my game and I feel as though I\u2019ve got a game that sets me up to score well against good-quality bowling,\u201d Weatherald continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve played in Australia for nearly ten years now, so I think, for the conditions that are provided, I feel as though I\u2019m ready to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve invested time into my game, and I feel like I\u2019m ready to score around the ground against high-quality bowlers, which I think is something you want to be successful in Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m the only option left, I might be the best option, so that might be the best thing for me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tasmanian opener Jake Weatherald has confessed that he\u2019s \u201cactively hunting\u201d a spot in Australia\u2019s Test side ahead of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-36921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}