'Who is that guy?' young fans asked after seeing Australia's newest ...

When Beau Webster walked into the SCG nets on Thursday morning, he was met by two young cricket fans standing behind him where the wicketkeeper would usually be.

“Who are you?” one asked Webster.

No answer from the two-metre Tasmanian allrounder as he began hitting balls.

“Who is that guy?” the same kid asked his friend.

The lanky figure in front of them had just been told he would be the proud new owner of a Baggy Green on Friday morning.

Webster, who will become Australian Test player No.469, went about his business, but the kids were still confused as other bigger names wandered around the nets.

“What Big Bash team do you play for?” one asked.

“I think the Perth Scorchers,” said the other.

The correct answer is the Melbourne Stars. Before he rose to prominence in the Big Bash, though, Webster had made his name as “Slug from Snug”. Slug is Webster’s nickname, and he hails from a small Tasmanian town, about 40 minutes’ drive south of Hobart, called Snug.

The suburb, with a population of about 1500, is home to the Snug Tavern, where Webster had his first beer and where his old mates are likely to gather on Friday to watch him take on India in the fifth and final Test of a gripping Border-Gavaskar series.

The big right-hander is easy to spot. He often wears his hat backwards at Australian training and loves his bling, sporting a big silver earring. He was also a promising Australian rules footballer.

Webster will slot in at No.6 for Australia, in place of Mitch Marsh, and bowl pace when required.

Remarkably, Webster took up fast bowling only four years ago, having honed his craft as an off-spinner. He could become the first Australian bowler since Andrew Symonds to send down pace and spin in the same innings.

“It’s definitely one of the better decisions I’ve ever made,” Webster told reporters before the MCG Test of his switch to pace bowling. “I don’t think I’d be standing here if I was still wheeling out the off-spinners. It’s a part of my game I’ve been really proud to develop in the last four years.”

Webster is 31, but that doesn’t make him a late bloomer. He had enough talent and promise to be picked in Tasmania’s under-19s side at the age of 14.

He made his Sheffield Shield debut nearly 11 years ago, in February 2014, and played his most recent first-class match in November against NSW at the SCG. He made 61 and 49 and took match figures of 5-106 with the ball.

“He’s has been flying high for quite a while, so it’s a perfect opportunity,” former Test allrounder Shane Watson said on Thursday. “What a time to come into the Australian team.”

In his first six seasons in the Sheffield Shield for Tasmania, Webster made four centuries from 38 matches and never averaged above 33 in a season.

Since a breakthrough score of 164 not out against Queensland at the end of the 2021-22 Sheffield Shield season, Webster’s batting has gone from strength to strength.

In 2022-23, he made 596 runs at 42.57 before a history-making season the following year with 938 runs at 58.62 to go with 30 wickets at 29.3.

Webster and Garfield Sobers are the only players in Sheffield Shield history to achieve the 900-run and 30-wicket double in a season.

“I suppose [it is] a little bit embarrassing when you get likened to someone like that,” Webster said in a recent interview with cricket.com.au. “I always get a text from some of the boys around the country if I do well, just the one word: ‘Garfield’.”

Webster has been biding his time in the Australian set-up this summer, waiting patiently for a bat in training after the regulars in the top six.

As Webster himself put it recently, he was only there “to cover the big fella [Marsh] if something goes wrong”.

It says plenty about Marsh that the first thing he said after learning he’d been dropped was that he couldn’t wait to see Webster get his chance at the SCG.

With all-rounder Cameron Green almost certain to return to Australia’s XI once he recovers from back surgery, Webster will make the most of a debut in a tantalising Test with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy up for grabs.

The last Tasmanian to debut in a Test for Australia was Alex Doolan against South Africa in 2014, in the same month Webster played his maiden first-class match.

In a press release on Thursday, Cricket Tasmania said Webster “has been the form cricketer in all domestic cricket in Australia”.

The release also featured quotes from another Tasmanian legend in David Boon.

“For Beau to be given this opportunity in such an important match in the series against India shows the belief the Australian selectors have in him and his ability,” Boon said. “I know that he will do our state proud.

“For any aspiring young Tasmanian, Beau’s selection shows that hard work, consistency, and a willingness to continue to improve will create positive results and that there is a pathway for Tasmanians to play on the biggest stage.”

On Friday morning, Webster will be back in the nets, hitting more balls before the biggest day of his life. Perhaps those kids might know who he is.

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