Australia are in unfamiliar territory in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, having been thrashed by 295 runs in the first Test in Perth by India. Already on the backfoot in the five-match series, Australia are leaving nothing to chance, drafting in uncapped all-rounder Beau Webster into the squad for the day-night second Test in Adelaide, as cover for Mitchell Marsh.
Marsh, who bowled 17 overs in the Perth Test, had pulled up "sore" following the series opener in Perth earlier this week.
Who is Beau Webster?
Beau Webster, 30, bowls right-arm pace and is more than handy with the bat, like Marsh. He has had an impressive outing in the Sheffield Shield for Tasmania over the past two years, accumulating 1,788 runs, with five centuries and nine fifties.
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Earlier this week, in a Sheffield Shield match against New South Wales, he scored 61 and 49, and took five wickets. He was last year's Sheffield Shield player of the year, with more than more than 900 runs and 30 wickets in the season—only the second player in Sheffield Shield history after Sir Garfield Sobers to do so.
Webster has scored 5,297 runs at an average of 37.83 and taken 148 wickets in first class cricket. He was also one of the standout performers for Australia A against their Indian counterparts before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, with important knocks of 61* and 46*, and figures of 3/19 and 3/49 against the visiting India A side this month.
Though he started off bowling off-spin, Webster switched to pace bowling four years ago, learning the ropes during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.
Australia's star all-rounder Cameron Green was ruled out of the series against India after opting to have surgery on a stress fracture in his lumbar spine.
The second Test starts at Adelaide Oval on December 6.
Australia squad for second Test in Adelaide:
Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster.