Speaking to Wisden’s The Scoop, Waugh said that the selectors must stick with the players for a longer period and not drop them after one or two failures.
The 61-year-old believes the selectors didn’t have a long-term view in Weatherald’s selection. The left-hander scored 23 runs in the first innings and bagged a three-ball duck in the second of the first Test against Bangladesh. He averages 20.36 after 12 innings, having scored 224 runs with one fifty to his name.
“We've got a lot of talent,” Waugh said. “I think selectors just got to pick and stick a bit more, and I don't like the fact that Jake got dropped after one Test. You know, you take a lot of months, a couple of months at least, to pick that side. And I would have thought they would have picked players that they thought were going to be in the Australian team going forward for a long time, not just one Test match.
“So I think that was a short-term decision. And not really, you know, having a bigger picture in mind when you pick a side. So I think that, whilst a lot of people agree with that selection, I didn't agree with the method of that selection,” Waugh added.
Interestingly, the Ausstralia selectors have gone back to Matt Renshaw, who will be opening the innings for Australia in Tests after eight years. He has played 14 Tests in almost 10 years after making his debut in November 2016.
The 30-year-old was left out of the team in March 2018 after Australia's controversial South Africa tour. He made a comeback to play three Tests in 2023 but batted at five and six, with the best score of five before being dropped again.
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