Is Cameron White the real deal?

[Quagmire]

Over the last couple of years Cameron White has taken small steps into becoming an international player, since his county season at Somerset he has improved leaps and bounds. This year he has been given a chance to play for Australia in the Twenty20 match and made 40* off 20 balls smashing only one 4 and four big 6's. Then in the match against New Zealand he hit 45 off 32 balls smashing two 4's and three 6's. He has had a very good domestic season in both county cricket and in Australian state cricket. The main question is will he make a good international player? Can he do what he has done against the best sides. One thing that people forget due to his involvement in cricket he is on 23 years old.

Australian Domestic
Pura Cup - 5 mat, 8 inn, 1 no, 341 runs, hs 150*, Ave 48.71, Sr 50.97, 1x100, 2x50
Ford Ranger Cup - 8 mat, 7 inn, 314 runs, hs 126*, Ave 52.33, Sr 82.84, 1x100, 2x50
KFC Dom Twenty20 - 2 mat, 2 inn, 57 runs, hs 50, Ave 28.50, Sr 142.85, 0x100, 1x50

English County
County Championship - 12 mat, 22 inn, 1190 runs, Hs 260*, Ave 59.50, SR 81.45, 5x100, 3x50
C&G Trophy - 9 mat, 8 inn, 1 no, 323 runs, Hs 109*, Ave 46.14, SR 81.36, 1x100, 0x50
Twenty20 Cup - 8 mat, 8 inn, 2 no, 403 runs, Hs 141*, Ave 67.16, SR 180.71, 2x100, 1x50

[KennyG]

Bowling he is only a part time option.
White,Symonds and M.Clarke should be able to get ten overs between them in the 20-40 over mark when most batsmen are accumulating runs with few risky shots.

Batting he is a pure weapon coming in late.
If they stick with Hussey at six and White at seven it might be a good idea to bring in White first if the fourth wicket falls around the fourty over mark.
He takes an over or two to get his timing right,after that he is special.

[Quagmire]

The thing that has amazed me about White is that he is able to out score Symonds in two parterships with his big hitting.

[whetzel]

when i saw cameron white in 20-20 this season for somerset i thought he looked to be a good attacking batsmen but i wasnt sure if he could cut it in the aussie side but the way he has started he is definitely proving just how capable a batsmen he is.

[clements]

when i watched the 20twenety against i was very impressed with cameron white, he definatly showed us how terrible our bowling attack was

[draexem]

Cameron White's batting: Cameron White is purely an eye player. Has no footwork and relies on his natural timing and good eye to slog runs. Only good on flat tracks, not reliable, is an okay one day batsman. White will never get into the test side with his poor batting technique, and maybe the selector Merv Hughes is trying to make up for the lack of Victorians in the Australian side . He's a short-term replacement for an injured Shane Watson. He should be over-taken by another Victorian all-rounder by the name of McDonald, who has averaged over 100 with the bat in this domestic season so far. White gets a lot of silly hype, probably because he has blond hair like Shane.

Bowling: He chucks down pies and hardly turns the ball. Both Gilchrist and Ponting have more faith in Michael Clarke's bowling than White's.

His fielding is good.

Overall, White is 'meh' value so far. He has a lot of work to do, on both his batting and bowling, if he wants to be a permanent member of the Australian side.

[acker]

Mark my words and may they haunt me if I'm wrong

Prior to 2010 Cameron White will be the dominant batsman in the Australian cricket team in tests and one dayers.
Around 2010 onwards Cameron White will be the captain of the Australian side

Step back think about Steve Waughs progression as a cricketer, I think Cameron is tracking about even if not slightly ahead for this stage of development with Steve.
The Leg Spin bowling is their but it is not the major part of what Cameron is offering and is getting over emphasis because of the retirement of Shane Warne and the ageing of Stuart McGill. Lets remember Steve Waugh mainly relied on his batting rather than his more than handy medium pace bowling over the entirety in his career.
Lets also be aware Cameron is currently 23 years old he is 166 days younger than Ben Hillfenhaus the next youngest member in the Australian One Day Team and 2 years and 148 days younger than Michael Clarke the then next youngest player in the Aussie side.
On those currently pushing for spots Cameron is 4 years and 105 days younger than Phil Jaques, 4 years and 298 days younger than James Hopes and 5 years and 352 days younger than Chris Rogers.
Also consider Cameron was thrust into senior 1st class cricket with Victoria when he was 19 years old and much younger than those other national team batting challengers were.
Add to that captaining Australia U19 as a 19 year old, Victoria as a 20 year old and the following statements from the late David Hookes (his former coach) and Shane Warne (his former captain) I cut from cricinfo
" David Hookes, the late Victorian coach, felt White's best chance of representing Australia was to earn a top-six spot. As far back as December 2002 his hero Warne had predicted: "I think he's a [future] Australian player provided he sticks to the way he plays and doesn't try to be someone different.""
Cameron is the real deal.

[draexem]

Originally Posted by acker

Step back think about Steve Waughs progression as a cricketer, I think Cameron is tracking about even if not slightly ahead for this stage of development with Steve.

No, the batting of Steve Waugh when he came into the side was far superior to Cameron White's, especially his footwork. White's a slogger, a hard hitting batsmen that relies on the ball moving in a straight line. Waugh also bowled pace, which was why he was further developed in that area as well. Leg-spin bowling includes a very long apprenticeship. I can't believe you're comparing the two players.

Originally Posted by acker

Lets remember Steve Waugh mainly relied on his batting rather than his more than handy medium pace bowling over the entirety in his career.

No, Steve was a genuine all-rounder early on in his career, and he was highly rated for his ability to bowl at the death in one-dayers. He and Mark were opening the bowling attacks in some of their club teams. The reason Steve relied more on his batting later on was back problems.

EDIT: In 1986, Waugh bowled 197 overs in ODI's, taking 34 wickets at an average of 25. In 1987, 129 overs, 23 wickets at an average of 24.

[acker]

What a load of crud

Steve Waugh was 130 kph flat out
1986 he was bowling a lot more than 1996 and beyond
not to mentioned he got dropped out of the team for 2 years

And who can forget that crowd chant Waugh huggh what is he good for absolutely nothing sing it again (repeat numerous times)

Your memories seem to be very selective "Draexem" or may be google searches and cric info stats dont go into that much detail ?

[draexem]

Originally Posted by acker

What a load of crud

Steve Waugh was 130 kph flat out
1986 he was bowling a lot more than 1996 and beyond
not to mentioned he got dropped out of the team for 2 years

And who can forget that crowd chant Waugh huggh what is he good for absolutely nothing sing it again (repeat numerous times)

Your memories seem to be very selective "Draexem" or may be google searches and cric info stats dont go into that much detail ?

130kph flat out is more than enough for an opening pace bowler in club cricket and a quality all-rounder in international games. McGrath rarely ever goes over 130 these days, and is still a great pace bowler. What the hell does his pace have to do with his bowling credentials?

And Waugh bowled more in 1986 than in 1996 because of his back problems. Waugh got dropped out of the team for 2 years because the selectors wanted to emphasise the idea of putting a high price on your wicket.

And I have no idea what a crowd chant has to do with anything.

My memories may be selective, but yours are totally non-existent. Comparing White to Waugh is as ridiculous as sticking your nuts in the freezer. Waugh debuted 3 years younger than White, displayed more technique with the bat (although White has timing and power) and displayed more wicket-taking ability with the ball and he was in a bad Australian side competing against ruthless attacks. White slogs, displaying little technique and an over-reliance on eye and timing, he also has little wicket-taking ability with the ball (has variety but doesn't turn the ball much and lacks control, something Waugh had in abundance).

The only way White will stay in the Australian team is if he dramatically improves his bowling. Why? Because there are many quality batsmen in Australia, averaging at least 50, who are screaming out for a place (like the entrie WA batting lineup, Cosgrove, Birt etc). You have a young superstar allrounder by the name of Moises Henriques grabbing all the attention, who last year averaged less than 20 with the ball, and in the 30's with the bat in the U-19 World Cup. So, if there are batsmen around that are better than him (and while White can hit a long way, there are definately much better batsmen in the domestic comp), and he's not the premier all-rounder (Watson is ahead of him, and he'll be facing extremely stiff competition from McDonald and Henrqiues soon), then he must aim to make himself a great spinner.