Weatherald's initiation complete, Cummins fulfils coach's prophecy

Three weeks ago, Andrew McDonald made an optimistic prediction about the physical state he expected Pat Cummins to be in leading into the first Ashes Test.

"You'll see him and it'll almost be a question of, 'Why isn't he playing in Perth?'" the Australia coach said after Cummins had been ruled out of the series opener with a back stress injury. "That's where we think he'll be placed by that that stage."

The sight of Cummins repeatedly whizzing balls off the Perth Stadium's lively practice wickets, past his teammates' outside-edges and thumping into the blue advertising fabric on the nets behind them was confirmation of McDonald's projection.

The speedster sent down close to 10 overs to add to the hosts' hope that their captain will be back for the second Test in Brisbane.

For now, Cummins will have to be content that his two-spell burst in Perth's blazing heat on Monday might be his biggest contribution to this first-up Australian effort.

Jake Weatherald, enjoying his first training hit in Aussie colours, could not have received a more brutal initiation ahead of potentially facing Mark Wood, Jofra Archer and co. on debut later this week.

Usman Khawaja's likely opening partner against England in the first Test was one of the few brave Aussie bats willing to face the likes of Cummins on the juiced-up drop-in pitches in the shadow of the cavernous Burswood arena.

The adopted Tasmanian is an outlier among his cohort; he avoids the 'wangers'; the plastic ball-throwing tools favoured by most international-grade batters. He stuck to that ritual even as his more experienced teammates preferred assistant coaches flinging balls from their dog sticks over facing the likes of Cummins.

After about 20 minutes of old-fashioned throwdowns from batting whisperer Michael di Venuto, Weatherald fronted up against Cummins and the rest of Australia's pace brigade.

It was a telling battle between the most senior member and most junior member of a Test group that could, despite its age and experience, find itself fielding two uncapped players on Friday given the absence of both Cummins and fellow pace stalwart, Josh Hazlewood.

Even as the procession of Cummins deliveries zipped past Weatherald's outside edge, the principals of the left-hander's game that have brought him to this level remained intact. He rarely nicked, he did not follow the line of balls that seamed, and punished any width.

The Sheffield Shield's standout batter over the past 12 months walked out of his two-hour net unfazed at the working over.

Between batting stints he had cracked jokes with some old teammates – former South Australia teammates Travis Head and Alex Carey – as well as some new ones – Marnus Labuschagne and Cummins.

"Meeting people you admire so much has been a pretty cool experience," said Weatherald. "Steve Smith, Usman Khawaja, Patty Cummins – guys you've revered in your career for such a long time, now you're rubbing shoulders (with them).

"For me it's just getting to know them a bit better and just trying to crack into what I do well as well, and not to get too overawed with everything that's going on."

In addition to being an exacting trainer, Weatherald is also no shrinking violet. "I've probably grown up a little bit since I left South Australia in terms of my personality," said Weatherald. "I'm still probably pretty eclectic in the way I talk, but I think I'm pretty approachable."

Weatherald is nonetheless comfortable in his own skin, a trait he shares with Brendan Doggett, Australia's other likely 31-year-old debutant. His running banter with Khawaja is further proof of that; the younger man jokes that the 84-Test veteran has not learnt his name yet.

"He still calls me Jack," Weatherald said, tongue firmly-in-cheek. "We'll get there eventually. Hopefully if I get a game, he can (call me) 'Jake'."

Weatherald had not long earlier gazed out at the empty stadium's vast expanse, towards the green-tinged pitch that awaits him if selectors give him the nod.

"To represent your country in a place like this, it's such a cool stadium," he said. "Just to look out with it full and walking out to bat here, I was sort of imagining what it'd be like."

2025-26 NRMA Insurance Men's Ashes

First Test: November 21-25, Perth Stadium, 1:20pm AEDT

Second Test: December 4-8, The Gabba, Brisbane (D/N), 3pm AEDT

Third Test: December 17-21: Adelaide Oval, 10:30am AEDT

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10:30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 4-8: SCG, Sydney, 10:30am AEDT

Australia squad: (First Test only): Steve Smith (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook (vc), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue, Mark Wood