Craig White
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Craig White (born 1969) is an English former international
cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
er. He is currently a cricket coach.


Domestic career

Born 16 December 1969,
Morley, West Yorkshire Morley is a market town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish within the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, in West Yorkshire, England. Morley is the largest town in the borough after Leeds itself. Morley forms part of the Heavy Wooll ...
, England, White was brought up in Australia, but later moved back to England, his country of birth, where he became Yorkshire's first-ever overseas signing. At the time Yorkshire still operated a policy of only employing cricketers born in Yorkshire, even though English counties could play up to two overseas players if they wished. Having played in Australia, White was not initially qualified to play for England when he returned. This led to Yorkshire listing him as an overseas player. At the start of his career, White was an
all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...
who batted right-handed and bowled right-arm
off spin Off spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners bowl with their right-arm and a finger spin action. Their normal delivery is called an off break, which spins from left to r ...
. In his twenties, he changed his style to become a
fast bowler Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is a type of bowling in cricket, in which the ball is delivered at high speed. The fastest bowlers bowl the ball at over . Practitioners of fast bowling are known as fast bowlers or quicks. Also ...
, after doubts were raised about the purity of his spin-bowling action.


International career

When Raymond Illingworth became the new Chairman of Selectors for the
English cricket team The England men's cricket team represents cricket in England, England and cricket in Wales, Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Maryleb ...
in 1994, he wanted the England team to contain an all-rounder who could bat at number six, and bowl first-change. He selected his fellow Yorkshireman White for this role, much to the surprise of many media pundits and fans. By this time, White had been playing in England long enough to qualify for the national team, and he made his Test début against
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
. His performances were inconsistent and he was dropped after eight matches. In December 1994, he was Man of the Match for England against Australia A. In 2000, he suffered a mystery blackout, waking up to find himself in a gutter in
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...
.Petropoulos, Thrasy
White built for speed
', 5 September 2000,
BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...
. Retrieved on 30 August 2010.
The incident suddenly revitalised him as a cricketer, and his county performances earned him a recall to the England team for the series against the
West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...
. He had a successful series, contributing useful runs at numbers seven and eight, and becoming an important member of the pace-bowling attack, including dismissing
Brian Lara Brian Charles Lara, (born 2 May 1969) is a Trinidadian former international cricketer, widely renowned as one of the greatest Batting (cricket), batsmen of all time. He holds several cricketing records, including the record for the highest in ...
for his first golden duck of his Test career. His bowling had improved to such an extent that he was capable of using
reverse swing Swing bowling is a bowling technique in cricket, in which the ball is made to curve through the air. This is in the hope that the change in the ball's flight path will deceive the batter and cause them to play the ball incorrectly. A bowler wh ...
and reaching speeds of 90 mph off a short run-up. White played well on subsequent tours to the
subcontinent A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single large landmass, a part of a very large landmass, as in the case of A ...
, with his most notable achievements being 93 against
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
at
Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...
in 2000 and 121 against
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
at
Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...
in 2001. The latter performance was his one and only Test century. His thirtieth and final Test Match was against Australia in the Fourth Test of the
2002–03 Ashes series The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...
. An injury to his side prevented him from playing in the Fifth Test, but he later recovered to play in the
2003 Cricket World Cup The 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup was the eighth Cricket World Cup, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya from 9 February to 23 March 2003. This edition of the World Cup was the ...
, his last appearance for the national team. White's Test career was distinguished by inconsistency: with the ball, he took just fourteen wickets in his first ten Tests, followed by two consecutive five-wicket draws, and then no more than a two-for in his next fourteen Tests, before finally bowing out with a dozen in the three Ashes matches against the Australians; with the bat, meanwhile, he failed on two occasions to reach double figures more than once over the course of nine innings, but nevertheless gave solid accounts of himself on the Asian subcontinent. "By the end," wrote satirist
Andy Zaltzman Andrew Zaltzman (born 6 October 1974) is a British comedian and statistician. His comedy largely deals in political and sport-related material. He has worked with John Oliver, with their work together including '' Political Animal'', ''The Dep ...
, "it was hard to work out if he had overachieved or underachieved with both bat and ball. Or done exactly as well as he should."Zaltzman 2009. After the World Cup, bowling-related injuries began to take their toll on White, and he re-invented himself as a specialist batsman for Yorkshire. Always an aggressive shot-maker, keen to hook and drive the quicks, and hit the spinners into the deep, he added greater depth and consistency to his game.


Domestic career

In
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
, White was appointed
captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...
of Yorkshire, and in
2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
led them to promotion from Division Two of the
County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...
. However, he resigned as captain at the end of the 2006 season, having helped them to avoid relegation. In 265 first-class matches, up to the end of 2006, White had scored 11,949 runs at 32.91 with a best of 186, while his 341 List A one day games brought him 8,933 runs at 26.56, with a best score of 148. He took 395 first-class wickets at an average of 28.47, with a best of eight for 55, and another 337 scalps in the one day game at 25.02, with a best of 5 for 19.


Family and after cricket

White's sister, Andrea, is married to the former Australian international cricketer
Darren Lehmann Darren Scott Lehmann (born 5 February 1970) is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer who coached the Australian national team. He is currently head coach at Northamptonshire County Cricket Club. Lehmann made his ODI debut in 1996 an ...
, who played together with White at Yorkshire for a number of years. White is a former president of the Royal Burton Agnes Cricket Club, until 2017 when he was replaced by
Phil Tufnell Philip Clive Roderick Tufnell (born 29 April 1966) is an English former international cricketer and current television and radio personality. A slow left-arm orthodox spin bowler, he played in 42 Test matches and 20 One Day Internationals ...
. In 2012, White accepted a position on the coaching staff, at
Hampshire County Cricket Club Hampshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class cricket, first-class county cricket, county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the Historic counties of England, historic county of Hamp ...
.


Notes


References

* Zaltzman, Andy.
Unpredictable XI – part 2
" ''
Cricinfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a Sports journalism, sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including Liveblogging, liveblogs and sco ...
'', 8 April 2009.


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:White, Craig 1969 births Living people England One Day International cricketers England Test cricketers English cricketers Victoria cricketers Yorkshire cricketers Yorkshire cricket captains Central Districts cricketers Cricketers at the 1996 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup Cricketers from Morley, West Yorkshire People from the Borough of Scarborough English expatriate cricketers in Australia English cricket coaches 20th-century English sportsmen