Australia face fresh headache as Cameron Green and Beau Webster fight for Test XI spots

It’s happened before, and maybe it’s happening again. Cameron Green has returned to the Australian XI only to find that, maybe, his spot in the team has been usurped. So what happens now?

Cameron Green gets injured and another all-rounder comes into the team. The understudy does well, but then Green returns and they decide to pick them both.

But then the replacement outshines the supposed star and suddenly there’s a bit to think about as to whether Green is even in Australia’s best Test XI.

It’s happened before, and maybe it’s happening again.

Green’s hamstring twinge midway through the 2023 Ashes tour opened the door for Mitch Marsh to come into the side at Leeds, where he posted a breathtaking comeback century.

Selectors rated Green so highly that they bucked longstanding convention to go into the fourth Test without a specialist spinner, axing Todd Murphy to squeeze Green back into the side.

Mitchell Marsh had a spectacular return to Test cricket – after filling in for an injured Cameron Green on the 2023 Ashes. Picture: Getty

That plan backfired though, and when someone had to go for the series finale at The Oval, it was Marsh who got the nod, condemning Green to four Tests carrying the drinks before the retirement of David Warner created a top order spot for the younger West Australian as part of a reshuffle.

This time it’s Beau Webster, who only entered the Test fray in January when Marsh was dropped for the fifth Test against India after a wretched run with the bat.

He could easily have become the stopgap answer to a trivia question.

But he has more than held his own in Test cricket, and will next week in Grenada go past selection chair and former state teammate George Bailey’s mark of five Tests.

In less than six months since winning a hard-earned baggy green at 31, Webster has played Tests against four different opponents on four continents.

Beau Webster has made a magnificent entrance to Test cricket. Picture: Getty

He has taken wickets both seam-up and with off-spin, nabbed some classic catches and made three half-centuries, all of which came after top order flops. He is averaging 43.57 with the bat and 27.80 with the ball.

The Tasmanian looks a cricketer in command of his game. In the first innings at Kensington Oval it took the best ball of the match – from Shamar Joseph – to remove him. His backfoot punches through the off-side on Saturday morning (AEST) were sublime.

This a player with more than a decade’s experience as a pro. He’s seen it all in domestic cricket, batting up and down the order. He is a relaxed sort of dude who isn’t going to fall victim to nerves too often.

Cameron Green’s return from injury hasn’t gone completely to plan, with a series of low scores after being promoted to bat at No.3. Picture: AP

Then there is Green. Comparing the pair at the moment is something of an apples and oranges case. Green is building up his bowling loads to be ready for the Ashes after the back surgery that kept him out of the India and Sri Lanka Test series but isn’t sending down any overs in the middle. And he is batting at No. 3, objectively a much harder ask – particularly behind a befuddled teen opener – and a spot where Green doesn’t have much first-class experience.

But after 30 Tests, mostly batting at No. 6 and playing the role as fourth seamer, Green is averaging 33.3 with the bat and 35.3 with the ball.

It is worth stressing, Green can do things Webster cannot, particularly with the ball where his pace can genuinely trouble opposition players and he has been employed as a bouncer merchant.

Green is also a more recent proven performer batting in the top four, both domestically and even at Test level, with his unbeaten 174 in Wellington last year still in the selectors’ memory banks.

And particularly given the way Australia’s bowlers have overpowered the West Indies, there is little doubt that Green will remain in the XI for the remainder of this series, as Sam Konstas likely will too.

But Green needs to lift, even in the field where he has a reputation for the extraordinary but dropped a catch at gully early in the Windies’ pitiful attempt at a run chase the afternoon of day three.

Green’s preferred spot is No. 4, but that position is held by Steve Smith (when fit).

And if Webster keeps doing what he’s doing, then he is going to be very hard to dislodge at No. 6 in the medium term. The upshot is Green is going to have to figure it out at first drop.

Originally published as Australia face fresh headache as Cameron Green and Beau Webster fight for Test XI spots