Brisbane: Nothing was more telling about Jake Weatherald’s third Test innings than how, in partnership with Travis Head on a steamy and noisy Gabba afternoon in the second Ashes Test, the junior man could easily have passed for the senior partner.

Where Head took the leading role in Perth to gallop home in pursuit of 205 to win, now Weatherald showed a method both fearless and decisive, to ensure that England were unable to replicate the success of Mitchell Starc on day one.

A genuine prospect: Jake Weatherald cuts.Credit: Getty Images

By doing so, Weatherald gave Australia’s selectors a tick after the contentious call to drop Nathan Lyon on day one. He also demonstrated that, for the first time since David Warner’s retirement, there is the genuine prospect that the national team has found a new opener capable of setting the agenda in a sustainable way.

A score of 72 was not the hundred Weatherald would dearly have wanted, and he finished it with a sore foot from the Jofra Archer toe crusher that pinned him lbw.

But his runs came with sufficient authority and speed to put a significant dent in England’s pace attack, and to make life far easier for Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith as day turned into night. Weatherald was not quite as spectacular as Sam Konstas on Boxing Day last year, but he showcased a method that looked far more........

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