Webster bolsters Australia Test squad amid Marsh concerns

Tasmania allrounder Beau Webster has been added to Australia's Test squad for Adelaide amid concerns over the fitness of Mitchell Marsh.

While currently only officially added for the second Test, it is expected that Webster will remain with the squad for the Brisbane match which follows given the short turnaround.

Webster, who turned himself from an offspinner into a brisk medium pacer although can still send down the former if needed, has been one of the standout domestic performers over the last couple of seasons and recently impressed for Australia A against India A and would feel confident taking on any role.

"I feel like I have done it all over the past 10 years, at the top or in the middle," he said. "But I dare say the role will be somewhere between that five or seven role with the bat and bowl some overs as well [if I do debut]. Probably seam-up, we've got the spin department covered pretty convincingly with Nathan and a few other guys."

In the most recent round of Sheffield Shield matches he scored 61 and 49 against New South Wales alongside claiming five wickets, including two in an over to seal victory with time running out. He is also one of the best slip catchers in Australia. Webster confirmed the call from chair of selectors George Bailey came shortly after he had helped secure the win.

In the two four-day games against India A in Mackay and Melbourne he made 145 runs in four innings - including being unbeaten in both the successful run chases - and claimed seven wickets at 19.57, six of which came at the MCG.

Over the last two years in all first-class cricket, which includes a handful of games for Gloucestershire, Webster has averaged 53.23 with the bat and 31.71 with the ball.

"He's a special player at the moment," Tasmania captain Jordan Silk said after the game against NSW. "Any time I feel like we're in trouble, I feel like I can throw him the ball and he just seems to be able to create something, or any time we're in similar trouble with the bat then he's able to dig us out of it.

"He's basically playing as our third seamer and top-six batter which is a pretty good luxury to have in our side," Silk said. "He'd probably say it was one of the best career moves of all-time to give up his dirty offies and go to seam bowling because it's now looking like it could open many more doors for him.

"I think he's gained the respect of the competition with those seamers, and that probably took maybe a year or two for people to really see that."

In the aftermath of Australia's first-Test thrashing in Perth, coach Andrew McDonald confirmed the same 13 players would be involved in the Adelaide but Pat Cummins had earlier said there were some concerns over Marsh after he'd sent down 17 overs in the game - the most he had sent down in three years.

Josh Inglis remains the spare batter in the squad but Webster could vault into contention for a Test debut ahead of him in order to provide an option to balance the bowling workload if Marsh was unavailable. Cummins and McDonald have also consistently said that Marsh is selected because he is one of the best six batters in Australia but the extra overs could become increasingly important as the series goes on.

Marsh bowled well in the first innings at Optus Stadium to take 2 for 12. In his favour is the longer gap between the first and second Tests with the Adelaide game not beginning until December 6.

There is a chance Inglis could be released for Western Australia's Sheffield Shield match against NSW which begins the same day as the Test if he is not in XI in order to get him some red-ball cricket before the BBL begins.