South Australia’s Jake Weatherald joined Gerard Whateley on SEN Breakfast on Wednesday morning to reflect on his recent experience in the County Championship, Australian Test debut, and return to South Australia.
County Championship Experience
Weatherald, who recently wrapped up his first stint in the County Championship with Leicestershire, discussed the value of playing in the competition, describing the experience as an important opportunity to develop his game in different conditions.
“It was good fun, the weather was a lot better than here, weirdly,” Weatherald said.
“I played quite a bit of club cricket over there earlier in my career. Obviously, the standards are all different, but at the same time, you still have a pretty decent understanding of what the ball might do and what the wickets might be like, so I was pretty prepared mentally for what was going on.”
The batsman posted several significant scores, including a century in April, while continuing to work on lessons learned during last summer’s Ashes campaign.
“I’m obviously still trying to work on the stuff I learned from the Ashes… and my technical stuff there. But at the same time, trying to work on some game plan stuff and trying to understand what the conditions might hold if I go over there for an Ashes series.”
Ashes Learnings
Weatherald, who made his Test debut in Perth last November and played all five Ashes Tests, described his introduction to international cricket as both rewarding and eye-opening.
“[It was] Awesome, challenging and confronting at times,” he said.
While the cricket itself presented challenges, Weatherald said the intense scrutiny surrounding Test cricket was one of the biggest adjustments.
“The biggest thing I took away was, while I can believe in my game, there's other parts of cricket that make it hard and the scrutiny around everything, your technique, how the team's doing and all that stuff, could influence your performance.”
Returning to South Australia
Weatherald recently made the decision to return to South Australia, after a successful period with Tasmania, ultimately leading to his Test debut.
“I loved my time in Tasmania. I've been very open about the fact of how well they supported me and obviously it got me to my dream of playing for Australia.”
The 31-year-old said the move was driven by family considerations.
“It was just purely my family situation,” Weatherald said.
“I'm coming back into a successful environment and an environment where a lot of my close mates still play. So I'm very lucky”.
What’s next
Looking ahead, Weatherald’s focus is on recovery, before heading into the Australian camp ahead of the Bangladesh series.
“It's just a little opportunity to have a bit of a break now, refresh the body, get the body a bit more attuned to running, and then get back into some skill stuff and put in practice some of the things I learned in England and some stuff that I need to be ready for when we come up against Bangladesh.”
Australia will play New Zealand in the Second Test at Adelaide Oval from December 17–21, as part of the four-Test series.
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