He’s far from the selection ‘bolter’ some are suggesting.
All the same, it was a minor surprise when 31-year-old opening batsman Jake Weatherald was given the nod ahead of Queensland’s Mark Renshaw, and to a lesser extent NSW’s Sam Konstas, in the Australian squad for the first Ashes Test against England.
Should Weatherald now be selected to open the batting alongside Usman Khawaja in Perth—no guarantee, that role may yet go to the recalled Marnus Labuschagne—he would become the oldest Australian Test debutant since fellow Ashes squad member Scott Boland.
Boland was 32 when he ripped through England at the MCG in the Boxing Day Test of 2021, taking 6 for 7 on debut.
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Born in Darwin, Weatherald began his first-class cricketing career in 2015 with South Australia before linking with Tasmania in 2023.
The left-hander’s Ashes squad selection comes off the back of a strong, if unspectacular, start to the 2025/26 Sheffield Shield season that has yielded three half-centuries from six innings at an average of 41.33.
Perhaps more significantly, Weatherald was the leading run-scorer in last season’s Sheffield Shield competition, scoring 906 runs at 50.33 with three centuries and a highest score of 186.
Weatherald also plays for the Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash League.
The first match of the 2025/26 Ashes Test series begins on Friday November 21 in Perth.
The squad is in for the first #Ashes Test, but who would you have in the XI?
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 5, 2025
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