Beau Webster is just the second player in the Sheffield Shield competition's 132-year history to score more than 900 runs and take 30 wickets in a season. The legendary Gary Sobers was the first to achieve the feat.
Alex Carey scored 63 and Beau Webster 60 as Australia were bowled out for 286. West Indies pacer Alzarri Joseph took 4 wickets for 61 runs on Day 1 of the second Test.
Australia are already without another regular all-rounder in Cameron Green, who was ruled out of the India series after opting to have surgery on a stress fracture in his lumbar spine.
The introduction of Webster was the only change to the side, with Mitchell Starc included despite struggling with a back niggle during the fourth Test.
Cricket Australia has announced its contracted player list for 2026/27, with some notable changes including the omission of Glenn Maxwell and Sam Konstas, and the inclusion of Brendan Doggett.
Australia all-rounder Beau Webster described his impressive debut against India during the fifth and final Test in Sydney as a 'dream come true' moment.
Sean Abbott and Beau Webster, seasoned domestic cricketers, remain on the fringes of Australia's Test squad
Spinner Todd Murphy has been called into the Australia squad in place of the injured Nathan Lyon for this week's fourth Ashes Test, while captain Pat Cummins will skip the rest of the series as his back issue is managed.
England captain Ben Stokes was forced off the field because of injury on Day 4 of the fifth and final Ashes Test against Australia on Wednesday.
Jacob Bethell scored his maiden Test century to lead an England rearguard action on the fourth day of the fifth Test on Wednesday but Australia still looked firmly set for victory.
Opening batter Jake Weatherald and pace bowler Brendan Doggett will make their Test debuts for Australia in the first Ashes Test against England in Perth on Friday.
The legendary Ricky Pointing has advised Australia all-rounder Cameron Green to keep things simple and not over analyse or tinker with his game in order to find the right approach in Tests.
England's young batter Jacob Bethell joined an elite list after scoring his maiden Test century against Australia on Day 4 of the fifth and final Ashes Test.
Australia batter Travis Head has endorsed Jake Weatherald as an opening partner following the South Australian's rough start as a Test cricketer in the Ashes.
Usman Khawaja picked as Australia announce squad for Sydney Test against England
Konstas, 20, misses out after a poor tour with the bat in the West Indies, while Weatherald has been included after topping the Sheffield Shield runs list
Cummins has been sidelined with a lumbar stress injury since Australia swept West Indies in the Caribbean in July.
Regular captain Pat Cummins was named in the Australia squad on Wednesday for the third Ashes Test against England, a strong indication that the inspirational fast bowler will see his first action of the series in Adelaide next week.
IMAGES from Day 1 of the WTC Final between Australia and South Africa at Lord's on Wednesday
Statistically, Head's series stands apart. Among all players to score more than 600 runs in a single Ashes, he is the only one to do so at a strike rate north of 75 -- a reflection of how decisively he altered the tempo of games.
Sam Konstas has been added to Australia's list of contracted players in a huge vote of confidence for the two-Test opener.
Australia took the upper hand in the World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lord's, ending day two on 144-8 in their second innings with a lead of 218 runs after wickets tumbled freely again on Thursday.
Reeling from injuries to captain Pat Cummins and paceman Josh Hazlewood, Australia have received a boost ahead of the first Ashes Test in Perth starting Friday, with Cameron Green telling reporters he is ready to bowl free of any restrictions.
Nathan McSweeney, who opened in the first three Tests with little success, has been dropped.
Australia carved out an 82-run lead over West Indies on day two of the first Test in Barbados on Thursday, with the hosts frustrated by several close umpiring calls that went against them.
Pat Cummins tore through South Africa before a Proteas fightback left the ICC World Test Championship Final 2025 on a knife-edge at the end of an absorbing second day at Lord's.
Despite the heavy defeat, Australia are unlikely to make wholesale changes to their playing eleven and have retained the same squad for the Adelaide fixture.
Steve Smith and Travis Head hit centuries to help Australia dominate the third day's play by stretching their lead against England in the fifth and final Ashes Test.
The contest between England's dialled-down "Bazball" approach and Australia's more methodical batting could determine who prevails in the Ashes series beginning in Perth on Friday.
Dhruv Jurel has made a compelling case for inclusion in India's playing XI for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy
Glenn Maxwell's hopes of reviving his Test career may be over after the all-rounder missed out on selection in Australia's much-changed squad for the Sri Lanka tour.
Australia may opt to continue with a four-prong pace attack at Adelaide and even add another part-time seamer in all-rounder Beau Webster, who could replace batter Josh Inglis in the lower middle order.
Bazball is in the firing line, with former players and pundits decrying the high-risk game on Australia's spicy pitches.
Delhi-born cricketer Nikhil Chaudhary set for Sheffield Shield debut for Tasmania in season 2025-26
Scott Boland will step up and uncapped Brendan Doggett is tipped for a high-stakes debut to try to shore up the loss of a combined 604 Test wickets of experience.
Smith dislocated his right little finger in last month's World Test Championship final and will be required to wear a splint for five weeks, Cricket Australia said.
Images from Day 2 of the fifth Test between Australia and India at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday.
Their last eight Tests in Perth have all been defeats, with the most recent setback a bitter innings and 41-run capitulation in 2017 that saw Joe Root's team surrender the urn.
Kagiso Rabada etched another milestone into his illustrious career on Day 1 of the World Test Championship (WTC) final at Lord's
Images from Day 1 of the fifth Test between Australia and India at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday.
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