Tasmanian allrounder has made a habit of scoring crucial runs on tricky surfaces in his seven Tests so far
As Australia’s first Ashes training session on Monday neared its conclusion, Beau Webster and Cameron Green were the last recognised batters to leave the nets.
It had been a testing session on some lively Perth Stadium practice pitches and the tall allrounders shared a smile as they headed to the changerooms.
But for Webster, this two-hour hit in 34C heat was the perfect representation of his Test career to date.
From his debut in last summer’s Sydney Test, to some raging turners in Sri Lanka and some nightmare tracks in the Caribbean, Webster’s had to play on some of the most challenging pitches in the world.
The average first-innings score in Webster’s first seven Tests has been 257. By comparison, the average first-innings score in Mitch Marsh’s first seven, the man he replaced in the Aussie XI, was 385.
With that added context, Webster’s four half-centuries and batting average of 34.63 looks more than passable, although the Tasmanian admits he’s still kicking himself at falling short of reaching three figures.
“I’ve got some runs on some tricky surfaces,” Webster said on Monday at Perth Stadium.
“I felt like I was close to a Test century in a couple of those innings. I got burgled down the leg side in Barbados and (I was) batting with the tail in a couple of the other ones. It’s just the nature of the role at number six there.
“Obviously I would have loved two or three Test hundreds in seven games, (that) would have been an outstanding start.
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“But I’m still proud of what I did on some of those wickets, and the way the games panned out. They turned out to be handy contributions in a win for my country.
“Sometimes a 40 or 60 is as good as 100 in some innings where it’s a low-scoring affair.”
Despite being an incumbent, Webster’s spot in the Australian XI isn’t guaranteed with a shuffling of the batting order expected following the inclusions of Jake Weatherald and Marnus Labuschagne in the squad for the Ashes opener beginning on Friday.
However, if the Australian brains trust is expecting the pitch to do plenty for the first NRMA Insurance Test, Webster could have done no more to enhance his resume of scoring runs when batting is at its toughest.
He top-scored in the World Test Championship final with 72 out of Australia’s 212, was one of only three Aussies to pass 50 in Barbados and hit the winning runs with a clutch 39no in a tense chase on debut against India last summer.
The opening day of last year’s Perth Test against India produced 17 wickets as the green-tinged surfaced offered plenty of sideways movement for the fast bowlers.
But having grown up and honed his craft on tricky Tasmanian pitches, the 31-year-old feels right at home when the bowlers are thriving.
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Among Webster’s first handful of Sheffield Shield matches at Hobart’s Bellerive Oval, Tasmania were bowled out for 149, 121 and 199.
“The majority of my career down at Bellerive the ball’s been moving sideways plenty, especially on the first couple of days,” Webster said.
“So I feel like I’m my game is in a pretty good spot when the ball does seam around.
“It’s a different kettle of fish over here with the bounce, but I’ve had a little bit of Big Bash experience here and feel like I’ve always played pretty well in Perth.”
2025-26 NRMA Insurance Men’s Ashes
First Test: November 21-25, Perth Stadium, 1:20pm AEDT
Second Test: December 4-8, The Gabba, Brisbane (D/N), 3pm AEDT
Third Test: December 17-21: Adelaide Oval, 10:30am AEDT
Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10:30am AEDT
Fifth Test: January 4-8: SCG, Sydney, 10:30am AEDT
Australia squad (first Test only): Steve Smith (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster
England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook (vc), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue, Mark Wood
