New Delhi, Nov 7 Jake Weatherald shared his initial reaction after receiving the news of his selection for Australia’s squad for the Ashes opener from chairman of selectors George Bailey and admitted that, while he tried to remain calm during the conversation, he was “screaming in his head” with excitement.
Weatherald withdrew from first-class cricket during the 2020/21 summer amid the Covid-19 pandemic, later taking a second leave of absence in 2022. This period led to his relocation from South Australia to Tasmania in domestic cricket.
Three years later, he has finally earned his international call-up for this month’s first Ashes Test, nearly a decade after making his first-class debut.
"I tried to play it as cool as possible but I was absolutely screaming in my head,” Weatherald told The Sydney Morning Herald. “But he said, ‘We like the way you go about it, your record suggests you’re going really well, everything’s moving well, we feel as though you can put pressure on the bowlers and we like that, we don’t want you to do anything different, just be ready to go’. He was clear they trust I have the game to hopefully perform."
“Not going to lie, you shit yourself a little bit. I’ve aspired so long to even be considered for Australia and it’s one of those things where you never think it’s going to happen, it’s a pipedream. So then to be announced you’re part of the squad and have players like Steve Smith, Travis and ‘Kez’ (Carey), joining up with them will be an amazing moment," he added.
Weatherald now has a chance to make his Test debut after he was named in a 15-player squad for the Ashes opener and is most likely to partner Usman Khawaja at the top.
The 31-year-old batter further opened up on his rollercoaster ride and revealed some of the hurdles he has faced in his bid to become the country’s next Test opener.
“In sport, there’s so much failure and so many opinions about what goes on and so many things you can’t control. I was completely consumed by that, and when you go through certain things – I have OCD, and I was obsessed with getting better,” Weatherald said.
“But I was obsessed with everyone else as well, what everyone else thought. And when you’re already negatively geared, it just didn’t make a great concoction for trying to be a professional athlete and trying to enjoy yourself. I wasn’t the best human going around (in 2020), I didn’t feel that happy about myself," he added.
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