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Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Ashes hopeful reveals the darkest depths of mental illness he had to overcome - and how he believes his wife saved his life
Jake Weatherald is on the precipice of Test selection in an Ashes series, but his chance may never have come if not for his wife. Weatherald rose to prominence as a dynamic left-handed opener for South Australia and the Adelaide Strikers. He announced himself on the big stage with a blistering century in the 2018 BBL final, guiding the Strikers to their first title. Consistent domestic form saw him earn Australia A selection and inclusion in extended Australian squads across formats. Now, with strong early-season runs and red-ball pedigree, Weatherald has pushed himself into contention for an Ashes debut this summer. But the road to the edge of Test selection has not been easy for the 30-year-old, who revealed that his wife Rachel Pearce motivated him back from the brink of mental health issues. 'She's basically the reason why I'm here probably. I went through periods of my life where I didn't want to be here anymore,' Weatherald told News Corp. 'She was the only person that allowed me to cling to something that I knew was going to get better. 'She was the direct reason why I got better. She was the identifier. She was the one that sat there and said, 'look Jake, this is not a cricket thing. This is a psychological thing that you've got issues here you need to deal with.' 'I'll be eternally grateful for that for her. She's had to put up with a lot in her 15 years with me so far so I owe it all to her really.' At the height of his mental health struggles, Jake Weatherald went a month without stepping outside his home in 2020. Overwhelmed by crippling anxiety and a deep sense of loneliness and worthlessness, the Adelaide Strikers star stepped away from cricket, unsure if he would ever return to the game he loved. It was the second break he had taken from the sport and now Weatherald said he wants to speak out to help others also battling similar experiences. 'My value in life was quite low. The way I viewed myself was in a pretty bad way. I was closer to retiring than everyone probably thinks I was and I was closer to … yeah, no, doing something that I would regret now a lot too,' Weatherald said. 'I'm an advocate for being transparent. The experiences I go through, they're my experiences. 'They're not something I hide away from. I've been through that and I'm a better person and a healthier person because of it. 'Being able to hear someone else's story can benefit what you're going through and I think what I've learnt is it's just a stage of life and the truth is you can't control your thoughts all the time, but what you can do is if you see the right people it will get better. 'There's such a high rate of suicide within men in Australia, it's one of the leading killers in younger men, but there are things out there that can help you get better. Just because you're mentally unwell, it's not going to stay that way forever.' Now, after clobbering 183 runs for Australia following a 2024 season where he was the Sheffield Shield top scorer, Weatherald is not a smoky for The Ashes - he is a genuine chance. A difficult tour of the West Indies means Sam Konstas is no certainty for The Ashes series and national selection chair George Bailey said Weatherald is 'well in the mix'. It means the two could effectively be locked into a shootout for an opener's spot in the opening rounds of the Shield. 'The start of a domestic summer is always critical, given where the Test series always starts there always tends to be three, four, five rounds of Shield cricket,' Bailey said. 'Performances in the early rounds of Shield cricket always puts your name up in lights and always helps your team off to a good start. 'That's critically important and I don't think that will be anything different this year, (but) clearly there will be some players where it's about purely performing and putting as many runs and taking as many wickets as they can. 'For some who are already in the Test team, striking that balance right to make sure they're actually performance ready … that'll be important too.'
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Glenn Maxwell blow softened as Aussie hero scores $550,000 payday from Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting has called up Aussie young gun Mitch Owen to replace Glenn Maxwell in his Punjab Kings side, following a fractured finger that ended the veteran all-rounder's IPL season. The cricket world rallied around Maxwell after the sad news last week, with the injury compounding a disappointing season for the 36-year-old, who only recorded 48 runs in seven matches for coach Ponting's side, for a paltry average of just 8.00. And Aussie cricket legend Ponting has turned to Hobart Hurricanes star Owen as Maxwell's replacement after handing this year's BBL final hero a massive new pay day. Owen - who stunned the cricket world with a 39-ball century in Hobart's BBL final victory over Sydney Thunder in January - has been handed a $550,000 IPL deal with the Punjab Kings, ahead of the upcoming playoff series. The Kings strengthened their hold on second spot on the IPL table with a dominant 37-run win over Justin Langer's Lucknow Super Giants. And they're almost certain to feature in the playoffs series that begins on May 20, with Owen now in line to play a key role. The 23-year-old Tasmanian has been in decent form for the Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), with 101 runs in his six innings so far. He has a tournament strike rate of almost 200 and has blasted 11 sixes. Mitch Owen has just made the fastest fifty in a BBL Final!It's also the fastest Hurricanes fifty, and the third-fastest in BBL history. #BBL14 — KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) January 27, 2025 Owen's Peshawar side sits fifth with three games to play this season and they're one spot outside playoff contention. But he's jumped at the chance to get an opportunity with Ponting's side in the IPL, as Maxwell's replacement for Punjab. The Hobart star will be the sixth Australian player on Ponting's Kings roster this season, following Maxwell, Josh Inglis, Xavier Bartlett, Aaron Hardie and Marcus Stoinis. And Ponting believes Owen could be a huge asset once he's finished his current stint in the PSL with Peshawar. Ponting's men cemented second spot on the IPL table, with Inglis hitting four sixes in a 14-ball 30 that proved his best innings of the season so far. It helped Punjab post 5-236 in Dharamshala, with Langer's Lucknow Giants only managing 7-199 in their 20 overs. Inglis was promoted to first-drop and ignited Punjab's innings with with a big-hitting display that featured four sixes, including three in successive balls off Mayank Yadav. Punjab's Indian superstar Prabhsimran Singh once again ran the show with a glorious 91 off 48 balls that included seven sixes. And Stoinis kept the momentum going at the death with 15 not out off five balls to help the Kings set an imposing total. Lucknow needed one of Mitch Marsh's special innings after his impressive form earlier in the season but he fell for a five-ball duck after being dismissed by Arshdeep Singh. It was exactly the same fate the Aussie veteran suffered the last time the two sides met. And much like that last match, Punjab proved dominant again as Ayush Badoni's 74 off 40 and Abdul Samad's 45 off 24 failed to get Lucknow anywhere near Punjab's impressive total. The Super Giants are now seventh and running out of time to secure a top-four place and spot in the playoffs. The days's other match left most of India eagerly awaiting the latest display from Rajasthan's 14-year-old sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who became the IPL's youngest-ever centurion against the Gujarat Titans last week. The young gun followed that historic knock with a duck and there was more bad news for the 14-year-old against the Kolkata Knight Riders as he was dismissed for just four. Andre Russell's impressive 57 not out off 25 balls powered KKR to their total of 4-206 and despite Royals skipper Riyan Parag making a fist of it, they ultimately fell short. Parag belted a superb 95 off 45 balls, which included five sixes in one over off Moeen Ali. But the already eliminated Royals came up one run short on 8-205 as reigning champs Kolkata moved up to sixth on the ladder.
