Bailey declares Weatherald 'in the mix' for Ashes

Jake Weatherald will be "well in the mix" for selection in the upcoming Ashes series according to Australia's chairman of selectors George Bailey despite not being sent on an Australia A tour of India in September where battling incumbent Sam Konstas will be given a chance to further develop his game in different conditions.

Weatherald, 30, was the Sheffield Shield's leading run-scorer last season making 906 runs at 50.33 including three centuries opening the batting in difficult conditions in Hobart. He backed that up with scores of 54 and 183 in two unofficial Tests for Australia A against Sri Lanka A last month in Darwin. For the 'A' tour of India, though, Test incumbent Konstas is alongside another Test candidate in Nathan McSweeney and promising 22-year-old Victoria opener Campbell Kellaway.

But speaking in Darwin on Thursday ahead of Australia's opening T20I against South Africa on Sunday, Bailey said the Australia A squad was selected with the 2027 Test tour of India in mind and expects the conditions to have little relevance to the upcoming Ashes. Konstas is among a host of players who will miss the white-ball portion of the A tour in order to return for the start of Shield season where Bailey said the first three rounds will be "critical" for Ashes selection. Bailey declared Weatherald as a player firmly in the mix to open the batting in Perth.

"He's doing a lot of things right, isn't he?" Bailey said. "His performance last year was awesome. His performance in the Australia A matches was great, too.

"So that's the clear message to him, on the back of talking him through the Australia A selections, the clear focus for him is just to continue that and be consistent.

"A lot of selection is potentially being in the right place at the right time. So if he starts the year as he had last year, he'll be well in the mix."

Konstas, 19, has not been ruled out despite averaging 8.33 in the three Tests in the Caribbean. Bailey said he had spoken to Konstas about the disappointing experience and said the youngster was taking some lessons from the Caribbean he hoped he would add some more experience in India before returning for the start of the Shield summer.

"I think he's dealing with it well," Bailey said. "I think he deals with most things pretty well. Him being part of the Australia A series is exactly the same. Any player who's going somewhere new for the first time, take the performance aspect out of it, you want them to leave with a better understanding of: a) their own game, and b) how to play in in different conditions should they face them again. The chat that I've had with Sam since we've returned is he's reflected on that, and he's put a few things into his training, and he's launched himself back into getting ready for India and then playing for New South Wales."

Bailey was asked if Konstas scoring centuries in the two Australia A games against India A in Lucknow would carry any weight ahead of the Ashes.

"I think there's some separation there," Bailey said. "I don't think the surface of Lucknow is going to be a great read through to what we're going to get across the summer. Whilst we'd be thrilled to see that, and that's a really important tool for us and we're really interested in the performances of players there, there will be some separation. And I do think performing across the start of the summer is going to be important."

Bailey added that discarded Test batter Marnus Labuschagne, who will return in the three ODIs against South Africa in Cairns and Mackay following the T20I series, remains in the conversation for the Ashes.

"I think the Test pitches in Australia have been reasonably consistent across the last couple of years," Bailey said. "So if we expect and are hoping we get something similar to that this year, I think we know that Marnus at his best can certainly perform in those."

Meanwhile, Bailey revealed that T20I and ODI offspinning allrounder Matt Short will not be fit for the first two T20Is in Darwin as he continues to recover from the side strain that saw him ruled out of the West Indies series.

"I think he'll be back as a batter, probably by the third T20 here, and on the bowling front, probably later in the one day series," Bailey said.

There is a squeeze on at the top of the order in both of Australia's white-ball teams with Travis Head returning after missing the Caribbean series while skipper Mitchell Marsh will return for the ODI series after missing the Champions Trophy where Head and Short opened together in two of Australia's three games before Short missed the semi-final through injury.

Bailey suggested Short could transition successfully into the middle-order much like Mitchell Owen did in his debut series.

"We've seen shorty at the top and have some success there," Bailey said. "It's reasonably cluttered up there.

"I think Shorty has had some experience in the middle. I think that's a capability that, at different times, will try and grow out."

Bailey also confirmed that veteran allrounder Marcus Stoinis remains in the mix for Australia's T20 World Cup squad despite missing both the Caribbean and top end series while he plays in the Hundred for Trent Rockets.

"I think he remains firmly in the plans because of his skill set," Bailey said. "Trying to pad out your batting as much as you can, and having those power hitters who can also bowl you some really handy overs, which the guys that got that opportunity in the West Indies, I think we saw how valuable that is. So I don't think that's going to diminish. So I imagine once we get closer to picking that squad, that his name will be firmly in the mix."