Two-time defending Sheffield Shield champions South Australia have pulled off a major coup by luring incumbent Test opener Jake Weatherald back to Adelaide despite having two years to run on his deal with Tasmania.
Weatherald, who is originally from the Northern Territory, propelled himself to a Test debut last summer on the back of his performances for Tasmania after moving to Hobart in 2023, having played his first eight seasons in Shield cricket with South Australia between 2015 and 2022.
The 31-year-old’s promotion to the Cricket Australia contract list made it possible for him to move back to South Australia where his wife has remained to live and work despite Weatherald spending the majority of each summer in Hobart over the last three years.
CA contracted players sit outside the state salary cap and can freely nominate the state they wish to play for if they are not already contracted to a state. In Weatherald’s case, he needed Tasmania to agree to terminate his two-year deal to remain in Hobart and they have done that at the cost of losing their most prolific Shield run-scorer over the past two summers.
Weatherald’s return to SA, where he has played 60 Shield matches and scored nine of his 13 first-class hundreds, further strengthens the two-time defending champions. However, if he remains as Australia’s incumbent Test opener for the summer ahead it is possible he and Test opening partner Travis Head will not open in many, if any, games for SA next summer. Australia has 13 Tests against South Africa (away), New Zealand (home), India (away) and England (home) during the Shield season. If Weatherald plays all 13 there will only be a brief window in November where he may be available for some Shield games depending on his need to rest between the tour of South Africa in October and the four-match series against New Zealand that starts in early December.
Australia then have a five-match tour of India that starts in mid-January and runs until March before they return for the one-off 150th Anniversary Test against England on March 11. Weatherald would likely be available if SA qualified for a third-straight Shield final at the end of March. He played in two Shield finals for SA against Victoria in 2016 and 2017 alongside Test team-mates Head and Alex Carey, scoring 66, 96, 60 and 2. But like Head, he has not played in a winning Shield final in his career to-date.
Weatherald remains contracted to Hobart Hurricanes in the BBL after signing a two-year deal ahead of last season but he did not play for Hurricanes after the Ashes, instead choosing to work on his red-ball batting ahead of the back-end of the Shield summer with Tasmania.
Meanwhile, South Australia have also added former New South Wales wicketkeeper-batter Matthew Gilkes to their squad. The 26-year-old left-hander had a stop-start career with NSW playing 45 Shield games and 41 List A games across seven seasons. He has reached fifty 19 times in 78 Shield innings, including twice in his last match against Western Australia in March, but is yet to register a first-class century and averages just 26.98. He might get the chance to keep in both formats with Carey unlikely to play much for SA next summer due to Australia’s Test schedule.
Left-arm seamer Campbell Thompson has been promoted from the rookie list after making a successful Shield debut against Queensland in February. Allrounder Noah McFadyen has been rewarded after two outstanding seasons in Premier cricket with Adelaide. He was close to making his Shield debut against Victoria just prior to the Shield final. Jerrssis Wadia has also been added to the list after a breakout BBL with Adelaide Strikers.
SA have omitted rookie wicketkeeper-bat Harry Matthias from their contract list. Veteran batters Daniel Drew and Connor McInerney have also dropped off the list. Thomas Kelly has stepped away from the state list but remains with Adelaide Strikers in the BBL while Aidan Cahill has also lost his contract.
South Australia’s 2026-27 squad: Wes Agar, Jordan Buckingham, Alex Carey (CA), Brendan Doggett (CA), Jake Fraser‑McGurk, Matthew Gilkes, Travis Head (CA), Henry Hunt, Hanno Jacobs, Spencer Johnson, Jake Lehmann, Ben Manenti, Nathan McAndrew, Noah McFadyen, Nathan McSweeney, Harry Nielsen, Lloyd Pope, Henry Thornton, Campbell Thompson, Jason Sangha, Liam Scott, Mackenzie Harvey, Jerrssis Wadia, Jake Weatherald (CA). Rookies: Thomas Brown, Kane Halfpenny, Douwtjie Hoogenboezem, Hayden Schiller
Ins: Matthew Gilkes (NSW), Noah McFadyen, Jerrssis Wadia, Jake Weatherald (Tasmania), Thomas Brown, Kane Halfpenny, Hayden Schiller
Outs: Daniel Drew, Thomas Kelly, Conor McInerney, Harry Matthias, Aidan Cahill
