Beau Webster admits his white-ball game has been on the back burner, yet the Tasmanian all-rounder still hopes a strong run in the One-Day Cup can shove his name into the mix for the 2027 ODI World Cup.
Tasmania open their domestic 50-over season against New South Wales in Sydney on Tuesday before flying to Brisbane to meet Victoria on Friday. Webster will be there for both, then back into Sheffield Shield duties early next month. It is a busy sprint, but one he thinks could remind selectors he is more than a red-ball specialist.
On the numbers, he has work to do. A List-A batting average of 30.31 and a strike-rate of 77.10 are neat rather than dazzling; his only hundred came in 2017 for a Cricket Australia XI. Last summer he scored only 31 runs in three innings. Still, the ball swung his way: 16 wickets at 9.56, including career-best figures of 6 for 17 on a lively WACA surface where Western Australia somehow crumbled from 0 for 87 to 98 all-out.
“I’d love to play white-ball cricket for Australia,” Webster told ESPNcricinfo. “Probably more so one-day cricket than T20 at this stage. It just feels a bit like I haven’t played it for a long time. The last 12 months I’ve been solely focused on red-ball cricket … It feels like I’ve hardly hit a white ball.”
That shift to red-ball has paid off. County stints, a solid Shield campaign, then Test honours have built confidence and a clear training routine. Translating that to 50-over cricket, he says, is part mind-set, part opportunity. “I feel like my red-ball game’s in a really good place … obviously if the opportunity came and they needed what I do, I’d absolutely jump at it and love to represent the country in the colours.”
The next men’s World Cup, shared between South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia in late 2027, will likely favour seam bowlers who can bat—a description that fits Webster’s brisk mediums and preference for pace on the bat. Australia’s top order is in flux after the retirements of Steven Smith and Glenn Maxwell, while the No.7 spot remains unresolved following Aaron Hardie’s lean series in South Africa. Mitchell Owen would have had a look but was ruled out with concussion. Selectors are casting wider nets.
“I think if you’re scoring runs and taking wickets in Test cricket, you’re always going to be seen as an option,” Webster noted. “If you’re doing it at that level…there are a lot of transferable skills across from Test cricket to one-day cricket. So I hope I’m in the conversation if I can continue to score runs in the One-Day Cup for Tasmania and Test level. I hope my name gets thrown around for a potential debut.”
At 31, Webster should be in his batting prime when the 2027 tournament rolls around. The next few weeks, though, are simpler: score runs, take wickets, maybe remind people of that six-for in Perth. After that, Shield cricket, then an Ashes summer where Australia’s balance—four quicks or three and an all-rounder—could again dictate whether he plays or carries drinks.
He is realistic rather than bullish. One-day cricket, he says, is “not something I’ve thought too much about”, yet it remains on the radar. A decent burst in September and October, and the radar might start blinking back.
