Weatherald pays the price as Australia blink after stunning Darwin loss

In the blink of an eye, the dream was over. Unfortunately for Jake Weatherald, it actually played out a bit more painfully than that. Over the course of three gut-wrenching deliveries where he visibly succumbed to the unique pressure of being a Test cricketer. A six-minute stay at the crease where the left-handed opener looked completely out of sorts with himself and his batting. Nervous, desperate and maybe even bit shaken by the prospect of a failure.

The first ball he faced was a wild swipe outside off-stump to a wide delivery. The third, the potentially fateful blow to his Test career, was an uncalled for cut shot to a ball too close to his off-stump resulting in a chop-on. The delivery in between was as unmemorable as Weatherald’s outing in what was built up to be his grand homecoming in Darwin. And akin to how disappointing Australia’s overall performance was in a humbling defeat to Bangladesh.

As expected, the two days following the embarrassment in the Top End have centred around what the post-mortem of the loss would throw up. And it turns out, the selectors have blinked, only one match into the 20-Test run with Weatherald the first to face the axe.

There is a school of thought that the 31-year-old, who scored one half-century in six Tests with an average of 20.36, could have been given one more Test to prove himself before Australia’s next assignment. He did after all nearly survive the first hour of play on Day One in tricky conditions last week, even if it was a largely unconvincing stay. Not to forget the handful of important contributions at the top alongside Travis Head during the Ashes. And that might well have been the case if Australia had somehow salvaged a draw or even pulled off a stunning come-from-behind win in Darwin.

But the manner in which the Test played out, and the comfort with which the Bangladeshi top-order handled the world-class Australian attack, meant that one of the two under-pressure top-order batters were likely to not make it to Mackay. Even if Weatherald was handed a central contract earlier in the year and in all likelihood looked set to carry on at least till the start of the tour to South Africa.

Matt Renshaw had scores of 128 and 29 in his two innings in the Sheffield Shield by the time Weatherald was picked ahead of him in the Ashes squad last November. He eventually would go on to average 46.09 with two more centuries for Queensland to finish with the most impressive stats for batters that summer. He’d also end up making his ODI and T20I debuts along the way, as recognition for his improved white-ball skills. But just when it felt like he might have left his charge for an immediate return to the Test playing XI a bit late, the 30-year-old left-hander is right back where it all started for him nearly a decade ago.

Matt Renshaw last played a Test in 2023, in the middle order.

©Getty

As harsh as the decision on Weatherald might come across, this does allow Renshaw the opportunity to get himself accustomed to the opening position again in Mackay. His last three Test appearances having come in the middle order, the last of them in Delhi back in early 2023.

Incidentally, the last time Renshaw did open was in South Africa at Johannesburg, when he’d replaced Cameron Bancroft post the Cape Town scandal. Having taken the call this early in the piece, the selectors would also hope that the Queenslander now feels secure enough to really build on his staggered 14-Test career and fulfil the promise he’d shown as a very young batter nearly 10 years ago. Especially when you consider that Renshaw will be the ninth opener they’ve tried since David Warner retired at the end of the 2023-24 summer. He wouldn’t have to look too far for inspiration, considering his mentor in the Queensland setup, Usman Khawaja managed to return to Test cricket after a three-year hiatus and enjoyed a terrific run in his second coming.

Unlike with Weatherald, Marnus Labuschagne has been given probably the most brazen ultimatum of his career by coach and selector Andrew McDonald about needing "big runs" to avoid losing his place for the second time in two years. Labuschagne looked the best he has against pace in the second innings in Darwin. Whether it was his footwork, his balance at the crease, the way he faced up to the likes of Hasan Mahmud, the manner in which he was able to clip deliveries through mid-wicket and also play freely through the covers or just his overall busyness at the crease.

But as coach McDonald very justifiably summed up his knock, it was still "only 31". And the former No 1 batter in the world, whose Test average has slipped to 44.16 which is a far cry from its heady heights of being in the 60s, might well need to end his over three-year Test century draught in Mackay, if he is keen on getting to play a Test in the land of his birth, South Africa, next month. Regardless of how the result pans out in Mackay, where Australia look to level the series and avoid even further ignominy of a series defeat to Bangladesh on home soil.