‘More pressure on my spot’: Webster welcomes Ashes heat as Green returns to bowling
Beau Webster has admitted Cameron Green’s return to the bowling crease will make it harder for him to keep his Test place but has vowed to fight for his spot ahead of the Ashes series.
It was Green’s back surgery last November that vaulted Webster into the Test squad against India before Mitchell Marsh’s struggles with the bat and ball handed the seasoned Tasmanian all-rounder a debut at the SCG in January.
Cameron Green and Beau Webster.Credit: AP
Webster has contributed in virtually all of his seven Tests since then, but conceded on Monday that he had not quite made the sorts of big scores that would put his place beyond doubt, albeit in tough conditions.
Green is set to resume all-round duties this summer in time for England’s arrival, and selection chair George Bailey said this would add “complexity” to the question of where he bats, which is unlikely to be the No.3 spot he took most recently in the Caribbean.
“When you’re at the top level, you’re fighting to hang onto your spot,” 31-year-old Webster said in Hobart. “Especially a guy like Cameron Green. He batted at the top of the order and didn’t bowl, and he’s obviously going to be back bowling this summer, which is going to put a bit more pressure on my spot at No.6 as the all-rounder.
“But I welcome it. I feel like I’ve been in this position before a lot in my career where I’ve got to score runs to go to the next level or stay in the team. I’m looking forward to showing what I can do at Shield level and hopefully lining up in that first Ashes Test in Perth.
“I’ve played in some tricky conditions. I feel like I’ve scored some tough runs, but at the same there’s no hundred next to my name ... I would have loved to have gone on with one of those. I felt like I was batting as good as I have done in a number of those innings.”
Webster’s 12 Test innings have included scores of 57 and 39 not out on debut, 72 at Lord’s against South Africa and 63 and 60 in the first two Tests against the West Indies. He passed 20 in seven innings and only three times did he fail to get to double figures. Bowling both seam and spin, he also nabbed eight wickets at 23.25.
While Webster fights for a role in the middle order, his Tasmanian teammate Jake Weatherald is considered a realistic option to accompany Usman Khawaja at the top of the order should the selectors choose to leave out Sam Konstas. Weatherald hammered 906 runs for the Tigers in the Shield last summer at a strike rate of nearly 70, with a trio of centuries, to lead the domestic aggregates.
“It feels like a good time to be an opener around the country, a bit unsettled at the top there, and Uzzy is getting on a little bit and coming towards the end of his career,” Webster said. “The next few years are going to be a nice time to be an opener, if you can put your hand up and score some runs, (but) it’s the toughest place to bat in Australia, no doubt.
“So whoever does put their hand up and score some big runs is going to be right in the mix, and ‘Weathers’ did it all last year. He got over 900 runs and shot the lights out a couple of times there with the bat. So hopefully he can start the season well and put some pressure on the guys that are the incumbents.”
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