Jake Weatherald says he would answer an Ashes call “ready to go” after compiling 183 for Australia A in Darwin, while 18-year-old Oliver Peake underlined his potential with a composed 92. The second four-day fixture against Sri Lanka A drifted to a high-scoring draw – only ten wickets fell in four days – yet the ease of run-making did little to mute interest in two very different stories.
Australia A 558 for 4 declared was built around captain Jason Sangha’s unbeaten 202, Weatherald’s 183 and Peake’s 92 in just his second first-class outing. Sri Lanka A responded with big runs of their own, Nuwanidu Fernando and Pavan Rathnayake helping themselves to centuries. On a placid Marrara surface, bowlers could only shrug.
First the facts: Weatherald, now 30, topped last season’s Sheffield Shield charts (905 runs at 50.33) and has followed up with 54 and 183 in this brief A-series. Peake, fresh from school cricket not long ago, has looked unflustered opening alongside him. Selectors rarely ignore weight of runs, even on friendly pitches, and both left Darwin with enhanced reputations.
“If you keep making runs, of course you’re going to get noticed more – and I’ve done that,” Weatherald said moments after leaving the field. “Obviously there’s some great candidates there as well, and they’ve earned their right to be there. So to be amongst them is a pretty proud moment. But I’m batting well, and I think I’m ready to go if it comes to that moment.”
Weatherald’s supporters say this is the most rounded version of a player long admired for clean striking without ever quite nailing consistency. He puts the shift down to hard-won know-how. “Just age, getting used to what I’m doing, understanding my game, understanding what I need to do to make runs and bat [for] long periods of time,” he explained. “And just being confident I can do it in any conditions, just believing that I’ve got the right method and sticking to it throughout my innings and not being taken away by the wicket or the situation. Just being able to lock in and do my thing.”
Sangha, sharing a dressing-room with Weatherald for the first time, noticed the same calm. “He just looks so clear when he’s batting,” the captain said. “He’s obviously been a strong player and a very talented player for a long time. He’s well renowned as a guy who really pounces on width and picks up length quite early, and it just looks like he’s made his strengths even stronger, and he’s able to rectify maybe some areas in his game that maybe would have cost him a few more dismissals.”
For Peake, still juggling Under-19 commitments earlier this year, the learning curve is steeper. Yet he fitted in quickly, adding 196 with Weatherald on day one and rarely seeming in awe of either surroundings or opposition. Sangha believes the youngster’s composure is genuine. “He’s been great to share the change room with and talk about what he’s been doing the last 12 months, and how he’s been going about it. And I think for young guys like an Ollie Peake and even myself, who ar—” Sangha paused, then laughed at his own half-finished thought – a reminder that even captains drift mid-sentence after four days under the Top End sun.
Selectors will temper enthusiasm with context. Marrara’s pitch was glassy-flat, the Kookaburra softened quickly and a humid breeze offered little swing. Sri Lanka A’s attack – honest, but missing a couple of senior quicks – toiled without menace. None of this invalidates runs in the book, yet the step from Darwin in July to Lord’s in August is not small. Australia’s Test top three remain David Warner, Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne; Matt Renshaw and Cameron Bancroft are next in line, and Will Pucovski is back in nets. Competition is fierce.
Still, there is space for a bolter. Australia took Marcus Harris to the last two Ashes tours largely on the basis of Shield form. Weatherald’s argument is similar but backed by louder numbers. Unlike the out-of-favour Harris, he is also a left-hander comfortable counter-punching against the new ball – a style England’s attack can struggle to contain. A cynic will point out he averages under 37 in first-class cricket overall; an optimist sees a player arriving late to his own peak.
Peake sits further back in the queue, and that is fine. Victoria plan to give him a full Shield season opening alongside Will Pucovski if both are fit, a tantalising prospect for state supporters. Short term, he may tour New Zealand with the Under-19s early next year, then step into Australia A’s winter programme. The teenager is already picking senior brains; earlier this week he spent half an hour with Khawaja on the phone discussing set-ups and tempo, a chat Cricket Australia arranged at his request.
Away from individual aspirations, Australia A’s batting depth looks reassuring. Sangha’s double century suggests he, too, has ironed out lingering technical creases against the red ball, and he is still only 25. Add established fringe players such as Renshaw, Bancroft and Peter Handscomb, and the Test side should avoid the thin patches that troubled previous generations.
The bowling, by contrast, had little chance to impress on a surface that barely scuffed. Nathan McAndrew bowled tidy spells without reward, Mitch Swepson sent down 40 overs of leg-spin for two wickets, and none of the quicks looked like dislodging set batters. Coaches left satisfied enough with fitness work, yet honest about the lack of examination. A livelier pitch in Mackay next week – the two sides meet again in a day-night fixture – will help.
For now, headlines sit with the men who filled their boots. Weatherald has asked the only question that matters: can he translate this form when the ball nips or bounces, when James Anderson or Ollie Robinson probe that awkward channel? Selectors have six Sheffield Shield rounds before the Ashes squad is finalised. Weatherald will need perhaps 600 runs, not 300, to shift entrenched pecking order. He seems to know it.
Peake, pleasantly oblivious to pecking orders, summed it up with teenage brevity as he signed a handful of bats at stumps. “Just good fun, hey.” One hopes it stays that simple for a while yet.
