Beau Webster’s call-up for the fifth Test is the right move to give the team better balance for Australia’s mission to seal the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and seal a spot in the World Test Championship final.
Mitchell Marsh has not been a factor in the series since he took a couple of wickets in the first Test and with the Aussies backing Mitchell Starc even though he’s under an injury cloud, Webster can provide more overs as the all-rounder.
Webster is not young at 31 but he gives the side an injection of new blood and they need that for this Test and then going forward, they’re off to Sri Lanka in a couple of weeks, so I think they’re going to need an all-rounder there because Australia won’t play more than two quicks.
We saw what can happen last Test at the MCG when you bring in a fresh face who is eager to impress in Sam Konstas so I think this is a good move.
Webster was Sheffield Shield cricketer of the year last year last season and he’s racked up some stats that only the great Sir Garfield Sobers has done with 900 runs and 30 wickets in a summer.
And he’s had a good start to this season, so I look forward to him debuting.
He’s a powerful hitter, but he’s got a bit of technique about him, a lot more orthodox than most batters.
Webster is over 200 centimetres. He was a ruckman for the Tassie under-18 team, not surprisingly. But I think in one of those games he rucked against Brodie Grundy, the Sydney ruckman, so that forced him to refocus on cricket.
And up until three years ago, he was bowling off-spin but then he thought why not have a go at fast mediums? Since that day, he’s done well.
He could be a very tall Colin Miller and it’s fair to say he’s got a lot more batting behind him than old “Funky”.
He hits a big ball when he needs to and he’s a bouncy, accurate out-swing bowler, who has some off-spin up his sleeve.
Colin “Funky” Miller bowls at Melbourne in 2000. (Photo: Robert Cianflone/ALLSPORT)
So he will be handy not only in this Test but when the Aussies go to Sri Lanka.
Funky was an under-rated asset being able to bowl decent medium pacers and spin as well. It cost me a game at times, particularly at the SCG, because he could bowl both.
I remember the year he changed to spin. He was just bowling some off-spinners in league cricket, in England and in Holland. And then he broke the Sheffield Shield wicket-taking record.
He got a seven-for against us at Victoria in the last game of the year. And the late great Dean Jones said he’s the best spinner I’ve faced this year, which was a big call because he’d gone from laughing at him when he started bowling spin.
But when Dean Jones says that, you listen. And then he came to Pakistan with us a few months later for the Test tour and made his debut.
Even if Webster’s only half as good as Funky, you put his batting in there and his fielding too, it’s bloody handy.
Marsh would have known he was in danger of losing his spot with the way he’s gone. You know as a player and he would have seen that coming.
He just didn’t get going with the bat besides the second innings in Perth, and he just looked a bit heavy with his footwork.
Besides the first two wickets in Perth, he didn’t really look like getting too many wickets or look like he’d be able to get through long spells either.
I think the pressure was showing a bit in his batting. When he came back into the Test team with a ton at Headingley, it was a bonus because Cameron Green was injured and he played with the freedom because he thought ‘this is my last chance’.
Mitchell Marsh and Steve Smith. (Photo by Morgan Hancock – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
Unfortunately, you can’t always play like that even though you’d like to be as carefree as a teenager like Konstas. Over time, the pressure of performing each match wears you down, so I think mentally and physically, it’s a good decision for him to sit this one out.
And with Green coming back later this year, I think he’ll find it tough getting back into the Test team. He should be right in white-ball cricket, but if Webster starts well, he and Green could both play in the same team as long as they’re making enough runs.
Starc’s side strain didn’t do Marsh any favours because they Aussies would have to be still a little bit concerned that he could break down so if that happens, Webster can pick up the slack with bulk overs.
Even though he did the injury early in the Test, Starcy bowled really well in that second innings.
With the expertise of the backroom staff these days, minor issues can become fine throughout the match or at least be managed through the five days.
Every now and again, he’d give a bit of a grimace, particularly when he’s coming back into a spell but when he warmed up, it was fine.
Even though he only picked up the one wicket, I thought he bowled really well.
Konstas is another wildcard for this Test, playing his first home match in Sydney for Australia. So if he was excited in his first one at the MCG, let’s see how he goes in Sydney on what can be quite a good batting track.
It sounds like the curator is very happy, as opposed to the previous few years where the square hasn’t been good so I’m looking forward to Konstas playing with that enthusiasm and taking the Indian bowlers on.
I’ve got my fingers crossed that Steve Smith crosses off those 38 runs required to make it to 10,000 for his career.
That first innings century in Melbourne was a classic Smith innings. The strike rate was back up and he was driving through the covers.
Mitchell Starc celebrates after taking a wicket. (Photo by Santanu Banik/Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Getting the trophy back after a decade is a big incentive for Australia but a win virtually guarantees them a World Test Championship final spot too. They won’t be backing off.
For India, we’re hearing all this backroom stuff about rumbles going on since they won that first Test.
It’s not a good sign when a team is locking out training sessions, not talking to the media.
Even with Shubman Gill injured and Rohit Sharma back home, unbelievably they won that first Test match. But since then, not a lot’s gone their way besides Jasprit Bumrah bowling out of his skin and a couple of the younger batters stepping up in Yashasvi Jaswal and Nitish Kumar Reddy.
Can they galvanise and find something to level this series and retain the trophy while putting a dagger into Australia’s hopes of retaining the World Test Championship?
The word on the street is that Rohit is going to be dropped! He hasn’t looked like getting runs whatsoever whether batting in the middle order or opening.
It is unbelievable to think pre-series but Rohit coming back after the successful Test has unbalanced this team and his captaincy became very reactive.
I’d put Gill back in at No.3 and move KL Rahul back to opening. With Jaiswal, that is a top three to take to England.
If it is a good batting track they have good spin options, so they’ve actually already made the changes that can help them, as in they’ve got Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar to provide quality spin.
Akash Deep is out with a back issue so fellow quick Prasidh Krishna should be called in to replace him.
Bumrah, back as captain like the first Test, will be a constant threat, but I’m backing the Aussies to win it to take the series 3-1 and get themselves into the World Test Championship decider.