White for India?

[Beny]

Blood White on Indian tour: Shipperd

By Chloe Saltau
September 6, 2004

Australia should seize the chance to prepare for life after Shane Warne by taking emerging leg spinner Cameron White to India next month, according to Victorian coach Greg Shipperd.


Shipperd said he had not seen a young man as mentally prepared for Test cricket since Ricky Ponting at a similar age, saying the time was right to expose White, 21, to an international tour.

Warne's understudy, 33-year-old Stuart MacGill, told The Sunday Age last month that selection chairman Trevor Hohns had indicated he may not be included in the squad for the India tour, which is expected to be announced this week, raising the possibility selectors would blood a young spinner.

"It think it's a great opportunity for them," Shipperd said. "They need to look to the next generation for a spinner to go after Warney and Cameron is clearly the brightest light, not only for his bowling but because his other skills are so good. The time is right, while Warney is still around and he can learn from him and tour in that environment."

Advertisement Advertisement
White, a gifted fielder and batsman, has had extra sessions with Victorian Institute of Sport coach Neil Buszard. At the recent Institute Challenge under-23 tournament in Darwin, he complemented 15 wickets at 13.73 with 164 runs at 41, including 107 not out against South Australia.

It will not hurt White's prospects that Hohns saw some of his exploits in Darwin.

It was revealed in The Sunday Age yesterday that selectors could spring a huge surprise and pick unknown 21-year-old off spinner Jason Krejza, while one-day specialist Andrew Symonds wants another chance, but Shipperd said White's similarities to India's leg-spinning maestro Anil Kumble should count in his favour. Kumble has prospered spectacularly at home, using drift and varying pace rather than sharp turn to capture 235 Test wickets in India at 22.10.

"Those who think they need someone who turns the ball into the right hander rather than a leg spinner only need to look at how he moves the ball through the air, like Kumble does, and Kumble's record in India speaks for itself. We've got someone like him and if he gets it right over there then there could be 10 years in front of him."

Shipperd, who worked with a young Ponting in Tasmania, said White displayed a similar maturity to the then future Australian captain and had worked tirelessly on his game and his fitness since MacGill's withdrawal from this year's Zimbabwe tour led to his first selection.

White said he was ready for whatever challenges the selectors presented him with after the Zimbabwe Tests were cancelled.

But MacGill is not entirely out of the picture and Indian captain Sourav Ganguly last week warned Australia would make a drastic mistake by overlooking him.

[Mike]

I think maturity is a vital ingredient of a spin bowler. They get better with age. It would be great to bowl alongside Warne to pick up some tips but not vital. I would stick with MacGill for another couple of years then bring White in.

[Beny]

I agree but I think McGill is an arrogant pain in the... Not to mention White is Victorian and therefore should, by divine right be selected....

[Beny]

White likely to join jumbo squad for India
Michael Crutcher and Robert Craddock
08sep04

VICTORIAN Cameron White is poised to join Australia's frontline spinning ranks today, with a berth in a jumbo-sized touring squad to India.

White is the leading contender to support fellow leg-spinner Shane Warne in a squad that could number 16 players for the crucial tour.



Selectors met last night and the squad will be released after the Australian players, including the one-day squad preparing for this week's Champions Trophy in England, are told today.

White's selection could leave Stuart MacGill's career at the crossroads, as he has been the nation's No. 2 leg-spinner for seven years.

MacGill remains in tour contention, particularly if three spinners are chosen, but there are suggestions he is now considered a replacement, not a partner, for Warne.








MacGill said he was told by selection chairman Trevor Hohns recently he was not a frontline contender.

The slow-bowling selections have been carefully planned after Australia collapsed beneath an Indian run onslaught during the 2000-01 series on the subcontinent.

The tighter line of White, and possibly a young finger spinner, is regarded as a more valuable weapon in containing the free-scoring Indians than MacGill's vicious turn.

Hohns said his panel was mindful of the value of a finger spinner in India.

"You go back to the last tour there and Col Miller hadn't played for a while, yet came into the last Test and played reasonably well and took wickets," Hohns said. "What we will try and do with the squad is to give ourselves plenty of options. We want to give ourselves the best opportunity to win this series."

Before yesterday's meeting, Hohns requested score sheets of recent Tests played at the four Test venues -- Bangalore, Chennai, Nagpur and Mumbai -- to assess the players.

Uncapped White, 21, is not regarded as a big turner. He is more readily compared with Indian wrist spinner Anil Kumble, who will partner Harbhajan Singh in a dual spin assault that could shape the series.

White's star has been on the rise after he shared Victoria's captaincy last season. He finished the year with a berth in the Zimbabwe tour squad after MacGill withdrew, then shone under the selectors' eye with bat and ball at last month's Australian Institute Challenge in Darwin.

Selectors had room to move last night when they chose the large touring party. There is likely to be room for an all-rounder, probably in-form blaster Andrew Symonds, who also bowls off-spin, but not for a reserve wicketkeeper.

Selectors have veered away from large squads in previous six-week tours. But captain Ricky Ponting said he would prefer a large squad.

"I've got no problems with 16, that would be fine," Ponting said.

"For somewhere like India, it's the more, the better. A lot of things could happen over there -- you can get ill overnight. To have a few guys around covering all bases will be good for us."

Indian players were interested yesterday in the make-up of the Australian squad during a media session ahead of their opening Champions Trophy clash. Possible Australian squad: Ricky Ponting (capt), Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Damien Martyn, Darren Lehmann, Simon Katich, Adam Gilchrist, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, Michael Kasprowicz, Brett Lee, Shane Warne, Cameron White, Nathan Hauritz.

[Nikhil]

Cricket Australia has declared the squad for India. Cameron White is indeed included, so are Shane Watson and Michael Clarke. You can have check the squad here.

Looks like a very balanced squad to me. Almost the same strength as the on toured in 2001. Waugh's are the difference. Warne is in good form. Don't know much about White. This is going to be a cracking series.

[NZBeth]

What about Warne-isn't he giving up the ODI?

[Wilcrap]

I bet Laxman, Dravid, Tendulkar and Co. are quaking in their boots thinking about facing Hauritz, a man who averaged 64 with the ball in Pura Cup last season, and Cameron White, a young up and coming legspinner.

White seems to me to be more in the Chris Harris mould, who while good at one day cricket averaged extremely high with the ball in tests. He doesnt spin the ball a great deal so all of a sudden I read that he is "alot like Kumble", who feasts on batsmen in the subcontinent. Firstly that comparison is flawed, Kumble's high action with a good topspinner, flipper and wrong un is where he gets most of his wickets. He is a vastly experienced campaigner. White is not anywhere near the same category. You know the pitches will be doctored to last about a session before cracking up, and yet the second best spinner in Australia (TBSA) is left at home.

If selectors were so concerned about picking White as a "spinning allrounder" then why would go go past Andy Symonds. Sure Simmo is not the best bowler going around but has versatility as a medium pacer hitting the deck hard and as a part time offie. I would pick him over Hauritz or White any day. As we all know, Simmo is in imperious form with the bat and his feilding is unparalleled.

Secondy, people point at MacGill and say he's expensive. Maybe so. But I noticed in the Sri Lankan series that MacGill was used sparingly and in short bursts, where if he was on song, he was kept on and if he was not he was dragged immediately. Steve Waugh would have left the man bowling and try and make things happen, possibly letting him get pasted all over the ground. I thought Ponting's style of captaincy would suit the team, and MacGill by only using him infrequently. The man is still EASILY the TBSA. In every competition, Pura Cup, Test, County, One Day Domestic, all have him as one of the highest wicket takers every season.

Good luck to the youngsters though, they're young and have alot of succesful seasons ahead of them. I hope they make an impact in australian cricket in the future. Im just concerned that we are not picking the BEST TEAM AT THIS MOMENT IN TIME.

At any rate, I would not imagine two spinners picked unless things get really desperate or Warne gets tired toward the end of the series.

[Nikhil]

I certainly think Aussies will not pick two spinners in the playing eleven. That's why I though Symonds would have been a better choice that say, Clarke or Katich (as a spare bowler).

Lehmann is certainly going to play and he will bowl occasionally. So Aussies have a left arm bowler, now if they play Katich or Clarke, they have a similar bowler, though Katich bowls Chinaman. But Clarke is again a slow left armer. But only one of them will get a chance and I think it will be Katich.

But the thing that went against Symonds' inclusion is he's a lesser batsman that Katich and Clarke.

[Mike]

A couple of articles about MacGill's omission. MacGill has played 32 Test matches and taken 152 wickets. That's just under 5 wickets per Test. I'm dumbfounded at MacGill's omission. His batting could be a factor although the selectors have not suggested that.

http://aus.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/C...12SEP2004.html

http://aus.cricinfo.com/link_to_data...10SEP2004.html

[Nikhil]

Mike, even though Murali and Warne haven't performed well in India, some lesser finger spinners have done much better. For example Giles and Boje did very well in India, as defensive bowlers. I think the role for White and/or Hauritz would be similar, if Warne is expensive. I don't think either of them would be played as an attacking bowler.