The Ashes

Ben Jones
CricViz Analyst

Image source, Getty Images

As tends to be the way with Australian selection these days, Jake Weatherald is on the older side at 31.

He has played the bulk of his red-ball cricket for South Australia, making 60 first-class appearances for them over six seasons.

However, his career has been kickstarted with a move to Tasmania in 2023-24 and his record has been strong there. Across 15 matches he's made three centuries, averaging a tick under 45.

His returns specifically this season - 301 runs at 38 - are less impressive, with no centuries from his eight visits to the crease.

Weatherald is a pure opening batter, with all 145 of his innings in first-class cricket coming at the top of the order. In many ways he's a classic left-handed opener, looking to score heavily square of the wicket, particularly through point; since joining Tasmania, he averages 136 with the cut shot.

However, he is a far more aggressive player than his opening partner Usman Khawaja.

Since moving to Tasmania two years ago, Weatherald's first-class strike-rate is 68, the seventh quickest in the world among opening batters, and comparable to the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ben Duckett, and Zak Crawley - albeit at a lower level.

That strokeplay does naturally come with a counter - Weatherald's defensive technique does come with questions.

In the last two Shield seasons, he's been dismissed once every 41 defensive shots he plays, a significantly low figure for a specialist batter, let alone an opener - you can compare that with Marnus Labuschagne (154 defensive shots per dismissal) and Cameron Green (92) for context.

England have moved away from opposition analysis in recent times, but even basic research will unearth a pattern of dismissals for Weatherald.

Across his career against right-arm quicks, he much prefers bowling coming round the wicket, averaging 57 when they do so compared to 32 when they stay over the wicket.

Jofra Archer will be licking his lips, averaging just 18 against left-handers from that angle.

Henry Moeran
BBC Test Match Special in Perth

Ashes fever has reached seemingly unprecedented levels here in Perth, with local newspapers and betting companies taking particular delight in trying to rile the England team and their fans.

On one of the high streets, a monster box of tissues, designed for 'thin-skinned' Poms, has appeared.

It's possibly worth noting the cries for England to 'get over' sandpaper-gate in the years since the scandal have not been quite as enthusiastically embraced by Australians 'getting over' the incident involving Bairstow and Alex Carey.

And The West Australian has taken aim, once again, with its front page...

Image source, West Australian

Timothy Abraham
BBC Sport Journalist

Image source, Getty Images

England's batters have been warned to stay in their crease at the non-striker's end during the Ashes to prevent Australia's bowlers 'Mankading' them.

Former England seamer Matthew Hoggard said Ben Stokes and his team-mates need to be on their guard against a mode of dismissal which has occurred just four times in the history of Test cricket.

Hoggard "hated" the way Jonny Bairstow was controversially run out by Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey during the 2023 Ashes even though it was "within the laws of the game".

Australia captain Pat Cummins declined to recall Bairstow, who left his ground at the striker's end during the Lord's Test thinking the ball was dead and over had been called.

And with the stakes so high in the forthcoming Ashes, Hoggard could not rule out the Aussies using an equally contentious - but legal - mode of taking wickets.

"I cannot envisage Ben Stokes doing it [Mankading]. I just don't think he would. Or Brendon McCullum [wanting England] doing that," Hoggard told BBC Sport.

"I don't see it coming from an English side of things. When you talk about Australia, they had a captain who used to rub the ball with sandpaper. So who knows?"

Hoggard, who was part of England's 2005 Ashes-winning team, offered a piece of straightforward advice before Friday's first Test in Perth.

"Don't leave your crease and you'll be all right. It's as simple as that," he added.

Hoggard hopes the Ashes isn't overshadowed by "the darker side of cricket" such as "a Mankad or controversial decision" but does not want the series to lose any of its spice.

"You want that little bit of needle," said Hoggard, who took 248 wickets in 67 Tests for England between 2000 and 2008.

"You want a little bit of bashing heads. But you don't want it to go too far.

"You've got to be smart the way about the way you try and wind the opposition up."

Image source, Getty Images

Excitement is at fever pitch in Australia ahead of the first Test in Perth on Friday, with the hosts' media machine in full flow since England arrived.

They have faced a barrage of headlines from the Australian media, led by the West Australian newspaper, making this the most anticipated Ashes series down under for many years.

But as Australian cricket writer and broadcaster Melinda Farrell explains, it is England's 'Bazball' style of cricket that has really got under the skin of Australian cricket folk.

So defeating the philosophy created by captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum is driving the Aussie psyche in the build-up.

"Yes, Australia want to win the Ashes," Farrell told BBC Radio Lancashire, external.

"But I think even more that, the Australian public and quite a few people in the media, they want to destroy Bazball.

"They want to put it on a stake and burn it and throw away the Ashes into a deep, dark hole so they'll never be seen again.

"That's the Ashes they want - the Ashes of Bazball!"

Image source, Getty Images

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting said he would "definitely" pick spinner Shoaib Bashir for the first Ashes Test in Perth if he were in England's camp.

England have included Bashir, 22, in a 12-strong squad for the series opener with the final decision seemingly between the off-spinner and pacer Brydon Carse.

The fast and bouncy nature of the Perth surface, plus Bashir's limited cricket since breaking a finger in the summer, has led some to some suggest England should include Carse and Mark Wood in an all-pace attack.

Ponting, though, pointed to the success of Australia spinner Nathan Lyon in Perth. Lyon averages 20.86 with the ball at Perth Stadium.

"If you think about the way [Bashir] bowls and releases the ball, it is not dissimilar to Nathan Lyon," Ponting told Channel 7.

"He is taller and gets over-spin. What has Lyon been able to do in Perth and Brisbane? Lyon has a great record in those venues.

"If I am them I am definitely going in with the spinner."

Ponting also suggested the injuries to Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins may mean Australia pick both of their all-rounders in Cameron Green and Beau Webster to shore up their bowling.

"If England target Nathan Lyon early in the game or target Scott Boland they might need someone else they can call on," Ponting told SEN.

Follow every moment of the Ashes with our rolling page of news, views and updates.

The Test Match Special podcast is out and about in Perth for reaction to England naming their 12-man squad for the first Ashes Test.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has his say on where the first Test could be won, England bowler Gus Atkinson speaks to the pod and chief cricket reporter Stephan Shemilt and TMS commentator Simon Mann dissect England's group.

We also hear from Mitchell Starc and discuss how Australia could line up after he suggested he will bat at number eight.

Download and listen here

Follow every moment of the Ashes with our rolling page of news, views and updates.