Beau Webster has scored hundreds in county cricket and T20s this year. He has four half-centuries from eight tests for Australia. The one milestone missing is a test hundred, and he wants it before the year is out.
“I’d like to get a test one this year. That’ll be more special than all of them.”
Beau Webster, Unplayable Podcast, August 11, 2026
Webster made the statement in Darwin ahead of Australia’s first test against Bangladesh, which begins Thursday at Marrara Stadium. The 32-year-old has 452 runs at 41 from 13 test innings, 11 wickets and 12 catches across eight matches since debuting against India in January 2025. He has contributed in every facet of every test he has played. The hundred is the one box left to tick.
His form outside tests suggests the runs are there. Webster returned from a four-month stint with Warwickshire two weeks ago, where he scored a maiden T20 hundred of 112 against Somerset in the Vitality Blast batting at number three. He followed that with scores of 79, 60, 47 and 78 in his next four Blast innings. In the County Championship, he hit an unbeaten 100 chasing 393 against Worcestershire. In 50-over cricket for Tasmania, his strike rate has jumped from 66.86 before 2022 to 89.36 since, including a career-best 138 against Western Australia.
The hundreds are coming everywhere except tests.
Why the test hundred has not come yet
Webster’s test career reads like a catalogue of near-misses. He scored 57 on debut at the SCG against India. He top-scored for Australia with 72 in the World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lord’s. He made two fifties in the West Indies on surfaces that were difficult for everyone. Then came 71 not out in the fifth Ashes test, batting at number nine for the first time in his career. Every significant innings ending between 57 and 72.
The Ashes fifth test showed what Webster offers beyond batting. When the SCG pitch started turning from Mitchell Starc’s footmarks, Webster switched from medium pace to off spin and dismissed Harry Brook for 42, Will Jacks for 0 and Ben Stokes for 1 in quick succession. His figures of 3/64 swung the match.
Alex Carey played a quiet role in that spell. Webster did not think the Stokes LBW was out.
“I didn’t think the LBW was out at all. If you look at the reaction, it certainly didn’t look like I thought it was out. Carey had to convince me to take it upstairs.”
Beau Webster, on the Ben Stokes dismissal, Unplayable Podcast, August 11, 2026
That understated nature defines his approach. Webster almost missed his own test debut because he planned to skip the optional training session and go to the beach. His wife told him to go. He showed up, got tapped on the shoulder after the selection meeting and was playing a test match the next day.
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Webster’s conversion problem is not technical. It is circumstantial. Four test fifties on four different surfaces, each in a high-pressure situation: a debut in a series decider, a World Test Championship final, a difficult Caribbean tour, an Ashes match batting at nine. He was never in a position to bat long and cash in. He was always rescuing, consolidating or accelerating.
The next 12 months will test whether that changes. Darwin and Mackay are drop-in wickets that tend to play low and slow. South Africa in October offers pace and bounce similar to home conditions, against the attack that rolled Australia in the WTC Final. New Zealand at home in December is traditional Australian fare. India in early 2027 is spin.
The variety suits Webster. He is the only player in Australia’s squad who can bowl both medium pace and off spin depending on conditions. That tactical flexibility does not appear in averages, but it is the reason he has played every test since replacing Mitchell Marsh.
If the pitches in this stretch offer anything for batters to settle on, the hundred will come. What Webster needs is not more ability. It is a situation where he is building on a platform at 3 for 250, not fighting fires at 5 for 120.
Despite not being a goal setter by nature, Webster named specific ambitions on the podcast.
“I’m not a real big goal setter personally. It’s more like stay in the moment and try to contribute where I can. If it’s bat, ball, or in the field, if I get a chance, try and take it with both hands.”
Beau Webster, Unplayable Podcast, August 11, 2026
South Africa is the tour that excites him most.
“South Africa coming up is going to be huge. I’ve never been to South Africa. The wickets are pretty similar to ours in terms of pace and bounce, and they’ve got a hell of an attack. They obviously rolled us in the final last year.”
Beau Webster, Unplayable Podcast, August 11, 2026
Australia faces up to 21 tests in the next 12 months across five series. Webster has also flagged interest in white-ball selection, noting his limited-overs game has improved each year with the ODI World Cup in southern Africa scheduled for October 2027.
With Usman Khawaja retired, Webster has moved into first slip. He was practising there in Darwin alongside Steve Smith at second, Marnus Labuschagne at third and Cameron Green in the gully. It shapes as one of the strongest Australian slip cordons in recent memory.
Shanto’s Bangladesh arrive as underdogs after being bowled out for 54 in their warm-up against a CA XI. The first test starts Thursday, August 13 at Marrara Stadium. Webster will bat in the middle order. The test hundred chase begins there.
Sources:
[Unplayable Podcast, August 11, 2026] cricket.com.au
Also Read:
- Mitchell Starc on letting things go and the secret to his longevity
- Hazlewood was told he would be rested during the Ashes, McDonald confirmed
- Finch on the Hazlewood, Boland and Smith selection debate
- Shanto speaks about respect ahead of Bangladesh vs Australia test
- Alex Carey will promote anything, says Richardson
- Pat Cummins on BBL, IPL money and the future of test cricket
