Articles by Daniel Brettig,Tom Decent

Sports

Weatherald out for rapid-fire 23 in final match before Ashes

Prospective Ashes debutant Jake Weatherald made a rapid 23 from 31 balls before dragging a ball onto his stumps for Tasmania against South Australia in the final round of Sheffield Shield games before the first Test in Perth. Batting on a green Bellerive Oval pitch after the Tigers were sent in to bat, Weatherald played out a maiden over from fellow Test squad member Brendan Doggett before getting into stride. Weatherald edged a fortunate boundary through the slips cordon before he hammered a cover drive from all-rounder Liam Scott to get to 23. The next ball was shorter and tighter to the stumps, cramping Weatherald for room and he dragged it on. An annoyed Weatherald wheeled quickly on his heels to walk back to the dressing room.

Technology

Labuschagne just made his fifth century in eight innings. This is his advice to Konstas

Since being axed from the Test team for Australia’s tour of the West Indies, Labuschagne has compiled domestic scores of 130, 2, 160, 105, 159, 18, 4 and 101 for 679 runs at an average of 84.9. Asked if he was in the best touch of his career, Labuschagne said: “The only [time] I can think of is probably 2019 in Glamorgan but not across both formats. “A little bit scrappy there at the start. Just didn’t get the rhythm there but just stuck at it. “I feel like my batting is in a really nice place. As it’s been documented, there are a few things I’ve changed technically. It’s all sort of come together, and it’s nice that it’s worked so far.”