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Paine: Why I’m picking Green over Webster for first Test
SEN • November 10th, 2025 1:59 pm
Former Australian Test captain Tim Paine is picking Cam Green over Beau Webster for the first Ashes Test in Perth.
While both all-rounders played together in the recent tour of the West Indies and World Test Championship Final, Green was only used as a batter as he recovered from back surgery.
Now with Green set to ramp up his bowling output ahead of the first Test, Paine thinks that the WA star must be picked over the Tasmanian if Australia are only looking at playing one of them against the English.
While Webster has been more than solid for the Aussies across their last seven Tests, Paine thinks that Green’s ceiling is too hard to ignore.
“I don't find it staggering and I don’t think anyone should find it staggering,” Paine said on SEN Tassie Breakfast in regards to Green potentially beating out Webster for a spot in the XI.
“I try to select teams and coach teams optimistically and say right, ‘If this guy's playing at his absolute best, what does that look like?’.
“I think if you were completely honest, and we love the big Slug, but if you’re picking between him and Cameron Green as the all-rounder if they’re both fit, I think right now you’re still going with Cameron Green.
“Slug has come from probably the third or fourth all-rounder in Australia to putting pressure on Cam Green for his spot, so that’s an amazing amount of work that he's done in 18 months to close that gap and to have that conversation now.
“And if Cameron Green doesn't perform, there's a guy ready to step in to that place.
“I think Cameron Green, we know he's potentially a generational player, he can change the make-up of your team, but he's got to go out and perform now if that's the way they go.”
While it may be a bitter pill to swallow for Webster if he’s left out after performing so admirably, Paine thinks that the call simply shows that the all-rounder position is now one of strength for the Aussies, with multiple players ready to fill the role.
“He (Green) is still young and he's still getting better, and that's not to say that that Slug isn’t,” Paine said.
“But again, I think Slug, you can't speak highly enough of him the way he's handled the last 12 to 18 months, and even before that, to get himself in his position, he's played superbly for Tasmania for a long period of time now, and he deserves to be where he is at.
“He's got a guy in front of him at the moment that's a serious player. But it’s a great position for Australia to be in that if Cam Green can’t bowl, then we’ve got Beau Webster to come in and do a good job.
“He’s averaged 35 with the bat and 23 with the ball in the opportunities that he’s been given, so it makes it a difficult decision to leave him out of any team.”
Green’s status as an all-rounder or batter for the first Test will be confirmed after he bowls for Western Australia against Queensland in Tuesday’s Sheffield Shield match at the WACA.
