Former Australia batter and T20 captain Cameron White was born on August 18, 1983. His career witnessed an incredible turnaround, starting as a bowler with little batting ability, but over the years, he turned into a powerful middle-order batsman who barely bowled.
White made his first-class debut as a teenager for the Victoria cricket team in the 2000–01 season. He rose to prominence when Australia’s U19 side won the title in the 2002 edition under his leadership. In 2003–04, he became Victoria’s youngest-ever captain at the age of 20.
The 41-year-old made his international debut in 2005 but failed to get consistent chances. White was invited to the Test team for the 2008 tour to India to take charge of the spin department. He had to fill the big shoes of retired Brad Hogg but failed to do so. Apart from getting the legendary Sachin Tendulkar as his maiden Test wicket, he did nothing remarkable in that series.
The right-arm leg-spinner never played a Test match again and finished his career with 46 runs and five wickets from four matches. Although he started to lose the edge in his bowling prowess, White improved his batting abilities. The 2009 tour of England gave him a lifeline as he scored his maiden ODI century at Southampton. He went on to score runs consistently and Australia found a new pillar for their batting unit.
One of his notable achievements with Australia was the ICC Champions Trophy win in 2009. White played a crucial role in the final against New Zealand, scoring 62 off 10 balls to help the team win by six wickets. He has represented the Men in Yellow in 91 ODIs and 47 T20Is in limited-overs cricket, scoring 2072 and 984 runs respectively.
White was appointed T20 captain after Michael Clarke retired in 2011. However, he got the baton only for a short time – 6 games, of which Australia lost four and won only two.
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