‘Beau was huge this Test’: Aussie debutant Webster earns widespread praise for SCG heroics

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“It is pretty surreal, to be honest. It probably hasn’t sunk in (but) it has been a nice couple of weeks of lead-in, just to be around the lads for the whole series.

“And then to get a chance in the last one was a little bit unexpected, but I was stoked. I knew I was always ready and today showed that I do have the game to go to a higher level and hopefully I can play a few more next summer.”

Webster, who became the first Tasmanian since Ricky Ponting to score a half-century on debut and the first Apple Islander to snare a wicket since James Faulkner, was delighted.

After friends and family scrambled to book flights from Tasmania when it was announced the “slug” from Snug would debut, he contributed scores of 57 and an unbeaten 39, while also taking the wicket of Shubman Gill and three important catches.

If not for the brilliance of Scott Boland, who secured 10 wickets and was handy with the bat at No.11, Webster might well have been Man of the Match in the Test that secured Australia the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time since 2014.

While Cameron Green is soon to return from stress fractures in his back that ruled him out for the summer, Australian captain Pat Cummins said that did not necessarily mean Webster would exit given his soundness when batting.

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“Beau was huge this Test,” Cummins said.

“He’s one of those quintessential all-rounders where you feel like they’re going to contribute in every facet of the game. That’s what he does for Tasmania and he proved that in this Test match with some really important overs. I thought he bowled beautifully, took some great catches and (made) two really important knocks.

“It just feels like he always is involved with the game. He couldn’t have had a better debut, I think. He was right beside Scotty as the player of the match.

“When you kind of build the package together, you think that if they’re (both) in the best kind of six batters, but they can also contribute a little bit with the ball and they are both amazing kind of gully, second or third slips fielders as well.

“So, yeah, just because he’s an all-rounder, it doesn’t mean that you can’t have two of them.”

Webster understandably impressed Fox Cricket’s stable of former stars who are now expert analysts.

Ex-Australian spinner Kerry O’Keeffe had been impressed by what he had seen from Webster and was far from surprised he delivered with the pressure on.

“Beau Webster is a positive because I’d seen him in Sheffield Shield and I knew that he was he was cricket hardened, good off both feet, uses his height and bowls enough good overs to rest the quicks, and he catches everything, so he is a big plus,” O’Keeffe told foxsports.com.au

Mike Hussey, a star from Australia’s most recent champion Test team prior to the Cummins-led generation, said the nation’s ability to unveil new faces throughout the series was a positive, with Webster clearly a highlight.

“Beau Webster has looked really comfortable at this level. I mean, he’s been super impressive with the way he’s gone about it, so that’s good,” he said.