Darwin, Aug 10 (IANS) Returning to his hometown as Australia’s opening batter, Jake Weatherald said he has made a few tweaks to his batting set-up and is hopeful that they are received well during the upcoming series opener against Bangladesh at Marrara Stadium.
Weatherald, Darwin’s first-born-and-bred Test cricketer, arrives in the Northern Territory following his debut international season during last summer’s Ashes, where he averaged 22.33 across 10 innings against England.
Ahead of the upcoming series against Bangladesh, Weatherald spent time playing County Championship cricket with Leicestershire, where he worked on technical adjustments to refine his top-order game.
“It was a good opportunity to put into play technical things while still playing. The conditions there were very conducive to improving my technique. Obviously, getting the ball straighter, hitting the stumps a lot more. So that was a great learning curve for me.”
“There’s been a few tinkerings, hopefully someone sees it. It feels like I’m completely different, but everyone says I’m still pretty similar, which is sort of what I wanted a little bit. I didn’t want to change anything dramatically.
“I tried to understand what I was really good at and what I do well in first-class cricket and what I could improve on, and I did well in the Ashes and what I could slightly adjust to make a better game plan overall. I think I’ve done that, so I’m pretty pumped to go out and show it,” he said to reporters on Monday.
Weatherald, who plays for Tasmania in domestic cricket, also noted the added expectations that come with playing in front of local supporters. “Coming up and representing your country is obviously quite a proud moment. To be in front of Territorians and knowing the journey I’ve gone through to be here is pretty cool. I probably cop more grief if I don’t do well up here. Hopefully I make some runs for you.”
He signed off by conceding that the pressure to retain his spot in the Test team is still present. “You are required to make runs all the time when you go out there, and I’ve got a good opportunity to play two games, hopefully, and make runs in four innings to do that. If I don’t do that, then yeah, I’ll put fate in someone else’s hands.”
–IANS
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