Aussie Test cricket star's future in fresh doubt after concerning call from Ricky Ponting

Jake Weatherald's position in the Aussie Test cricket side has come under fresh fire after another failure against Bangladesh in the first Test in Darwin. The opener was dismissed for a second innings duck on Saturday after Ricky Ponting warned that several Aussie batters were potentially playing for their futures.

Bangladesh resumed at 6-351 on Saturday after Tanzid Hasan's maiden Test century on day two. And the tourists went on to make 426 to ram home their advantage. It left the Aussies trailing by 228 runs and facing the monumental task of setting a big enough second innings total to give them a shot at an unlikely victory.

Weatherald, Marnus Labuschagne and Cameron Green were all under enormous pressure to perform with the bat in their second dig, having fallen cheaply in Australia's underwhelming first innings. But things went from bad to worse for Weatherald, who was out for a duck after chopping onto his stumps from quick Hasan Mahmud.

It came after Aussie spinner Kerry O'Keeffe suggested Weatherald was the man most in danger of being dropped, amid mounting criticism of his form and technique. "Jake Weatherald is perhaps under more pressure this innings than Marnus Labuschagne," O'Keeffe said before day three got underway.

Labuschagne was dismissed for just one on the opening day. And the last time he notched a Test ton was in January 2023, with the 32-year-old's average dropping to an alarming 30.1 over that three-year period.

All-rounder Green has also failed to deliver consistently with the bat after years of promise. And Ponting agreed that some of Australia's batters could be playing for their Test futures against Bangladesh. "There is no bigger moment in some of their careers than what's coming up in the next few days," the former Australia captain said.

Unfortunately for Weatherald, he was unable to unable to rise above the pressure and deliver a big innings in Australia's time of need. And fans suggested the opener's latest failure would likely cost the 31-year-old his spot in the Test side.

Jake Weatherald under fire after Ricky Ponting criticism

Weatherald will no doubt be feeling the heat after having his batting technique criticised by Ponting during the recent Ashes series over the Aussie summer. The opener was consistently undone by England quick Jofra Archer, prompting Ponting to question whether he was up to Test standard.

"For mine his stance and technical issues, he is not going to survive doing what he's doing now at the highest level," Ponting told SEN radio at the time. "In that series he struggled with full straight ball and with the more direct short ball. You don't survive at Test level with this.

"If I was a selector, I would say to him: 'we love what you bring but you have four Shield games to prove you can change stance and technique. If you can do that we will give you another go. If you can't... then it might be time to move on'."

As it stands, Australia will have to overcome one of the biggest first innings deficits in their Test history to beat Bangladesh. They'll have to channel the heroics of Aussie legends Mike Hussey and the late, great Shane Warne if they're to win in Darwin.

Hussey's unbeaten 134 in the second innings against Pakistan in 2010 masterminded a stunning victory after trailing by 206 in the first innings. While Warne took 3-11 in 5.1 overs against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 1992 to help overturn a 291-run first innings deficit and stop the home side reaching the 181 runs required for victory.

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