Warwickshire have signed Australia Test opener Jake Weatherald for the 2027 season, giving him the opportunity of a County Championship stint ahead of next summer's Ashes.
Weatherald will be available for Warwickshire's 2027 County Championship campaign, having played the opening chunk of this season at Leicestershire. He enjoyed a successful six-match stint, scoring 483 runs at an average of 60.37.
However, having returned home to play in Australia's opening Test match against Bangladesh, Weatherald made scores of 23 and nought as Bangladesh secured a historic win. After six Test matches since his debut last year, Weatherald's Test average is 20.36, with the left-hander having passed 50 just once. He was replaced by Matt Renshaw in Australia's squad for the second Test, which will start on Saturday (August 22).
Australia players continue pre-Ashes county stints
Weatherald is the latest Australia player who could benefit from spending the early part of an Ashes summer playing county cricket. Steve Smith played red-ball cricket for Sussex before the 2023 Ashes, with Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris and Beau Webster also signing county contracts that summer. Of all Australia players who have played in the last two Ashes series, two thirds have played county cricket.
Smith acknowledged the benefits Australia players get from playing county cricket, saying earlier this year: “A lot of our players have had the opportunity to play some county cricket, playing on some of their wickets, getting used to them, and then over the last couple of years we’ve had players that have played other series in England, so we’ve been exposed to those conditions — and it’s entirely different. So that may have something to do with it [Australia’s competitiveness].”
The preparation Australia players are able to get in county cricket before Ashes series', and the disparity between England's competitiveness in Australia vs Australia's in England, prompted the ECB to consider banning Australia players from county cricket following England's Ashes defeat earlier this year.
Recently retired England captain Ben Stokes also voiced his opposition to Australia players getting county stints before Ashes series.“I’ve never understood it,” he said during the 2025/26 Ashes series.“You never see it anywhere else in the world. I don’t think Australia would sign a visa for one of our lads playing Sheffield Shield games before an Ashes.”
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