All-rounder Beau Webster has been added to Australia’s squad for the second Test against India with Mitch Marsh battling injury.
Australian officials had initially named an unchanged 13-man squad for Adelaide, aiming to stick solid with the group beaten by 295 runs in Perth by India.
On Thursday Cricket Australia announced Webster would join the squad in Adelaide.
Marsh will also remain as part of that group after pulling up sore following Australia’s horror loss in the first Test in Perth.
Webster’s call up marks his first into a senior Australian squad after he impressed with two unbeaten half-centuries for Australia A this month.
A late bloomer who will turn 31 on Sunday, Webster made an irresistible call for selection in the past year.
He was the leading run-scorer in the Sheffield Shield last summer, with 938 at 58.62 for Tasmania.
The right-hander has then backed that up against this summer, with 448 runs at an average of 56 across all first-class cricket this season.
He can also provide an option with the ball, taking 30 wickets last season for Tasmania while able to hit the pitch hard with his medium pace and also bowl spin.
Webster’s form has therefore allowed him to move ahead of Aaron Hardie in Australia’s list of allrounders.
The situation also highlights the absence of Cameron Green in Australia’s Test line up, particularly given the length of India’s second innings.
Marsh was asked to bowl 17 overs in Australia’s 295-run defeat in Perth, marking his heaviest workload in any Test since 2019.
“I would be comfortable to do whatever they require,” Webster said.
“I feel like I have done it all over the past 10 years, at the top or in the middle.
“But I dare say the role will be somewhere between that five or seven role with the bat and bowl some overs as well (if I do debut).
“Probably seam-up, we’ve got the spin department covered pretty convincingly with Nathan and a few other guys who bowl some seam-up spin.”
It remains possible Australia could stick with Marsh as a batter-only for the Adelaide Test starting next Friday. Reserve batter Josh Inglis also remains in the squad.
The development came as Cricket Australia emphatically shut down the prospect of any of its out-of-form batters being parachuted into the Prime Minister’s XI side for this weekend.
Jack Nisbett was instead added to replace Jem Ryan, who sustained a foot injury at the weekend, in the Prime Minister’s XI.
India will get an opportunity to face a pink ball in the two-day game against the PM’s XI, starting on Saturday at Manuka Oval, while there there is no cricket for the likes of the out-of-form Labuschagne or reserve batter Inglis.
Australia coach Andrew McDonald was not tempted in the slightest to allow any of the XI that played in Perth to travel to Canberra, saying it “hasn’t crossed our minds”.
Former Test batter Matt Renshaw, along with fast bowler Scott Boland, are among those included in the PM’s XI squad.
“We feel that with the long summer ahead, the prep we’ve got in place … we’ll be well prepared as we were leading into the first Test,” McDonald said.
“They’ll have some hits when they’re back home, so part of the preparation will be when they’re at home as well as when we get to Adelaide.
Beau Webster. (Photo by Steve Bell/Getty Images)
“Bowlers will go through their work in terms of recovery.”
After the first Test finished on day four, Australia have decided to arrive in Adelaide on Monday – 24 hours earlier than initially planned.
“Obviously shifting into pink ball which will create different challenges in the way we go about it, so we’ll invest in that extra day,” McDonald said.
McDonald has given Labuschagne his backing as the former No.1-ranked Test batter battles through the worst slump of his career.
It will create a situation where India, who played near-perfect cricket on days two and three, will make more changes than the opposition they just smashed.
Captain Rohit Sharma will return after missing the win following the birth of his second child, while No.3 Shubman Gill is aiming to return from a thumb injury.
Australia will have to overturn recent history to regain the Border-Gavaskar trophy after going 1-0 down in the best-of-five series.
The last time Australia recovered after losing the first Test and came back to win the series was in the 1997 Ashes in England.
© AAP