Webster brings all-around excellence to Bears across formats

Beau Webster’s addition to the Bears for the first three months of the season brings a wealth of experience, true all-round ability and international pedigree to the side.

The 32-year-old Australian international joined the Bears last summer and played six games in his debut season, all in the Rothesay County Championship, scoring 361 runs at an average of 45.12 and taking 16 wickets at 26.56 apiece.

He immediately made his mark, scoring a run-a-ball 85 on debut against Yorkshire, a match where batting fluency was in short supply.

The Bears won in relatively comfortable fashion against a White Rose side containing Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan and Adam Lyth. 

But it was the red-ball home derby where Webster really came to the fore.

The Bears resumed the final day on 55/2, needing 393 to win. Webster joined Zen Malik at the crease, and together they racked up a partnership of 160, both scoring centuries, with Webster finishing 100* off 166 balls.

Kai Smith added the final flourish with a drive down the ground to complete Warwickshire’s third-highest run chase in their history.

If his stats for the Bears aren’t impressive enough, then his Test ones will certainly do the trick. In his eight appearances in the baggy green, Webster has plundered 452 runs at 41.09, and taken 11 wickets with a mixture of spin and seam to average 24.54.

Averaging over 40 with the bat and under 25 with the ball is the stuff of dreams for all-rounders at Test level.

The only one of the eight Tests that he has lost was against South Africa in the World Test Championship Final, and that wasn’t for the want of trying.

He top-scored in Australia’s first innings, making 72 and repelling a fearsome South African bowling attack, led by Kagiso Rabada, who took five wickets.

You could argue that Webster is unlucky to have only played eight tests, considering performances in the baggy green and the calibre of his First Class record and experience. 

Webster has signed for the first three months of the English summer, meaning that he will be available for the first eight County Championship matches, and with the change in schedule, the Bears will benefit from his talents in the opening seven fixtures of the Vitality Blast.

He was unavailable for much of the recent Big Bash League due to commitments to the Australian Test team, but when he entered centre stage at the back end of the tournament, he impressed in the Hobart Hurricanes’/ top order, scoring 149 runs in four innings.

It has been an excellent 18 months for Webster and Warwickshire will be the beneficiaries of a player that is hitting new heights, not only because he stands at two metres tall, but as a dominant all-rounder taking his career to the next level.