BBC SPORT | Cricket | The Ashes | White's wheel of fortune



By Oliver Brett BBC Sport Online

When England announced their squad for the Ashes tour in early September the most surprising omission was Craig White.

The popular all-rounder from Scarborough, who was raised in Australia, has had an up-and-down career, beset by injuries.

But he can perform well with both bat and ball, and his form is more or less a barometer of how England as a whole perform at times.

The injury that excluded from the original Ashes squad was an abdominal muscle tear in his side which he picked up during the second Test against India at Trent Bridge.

Report: 2nd Test v India

Craig White and Michael Vaughan
White has had some success this year

In that match, White had hit 94 not out, but England immediately lost the third Test on his home ground at Headingley and ultimately only drew the series.

Although the selectors were subsequently happy to gamble on a whole host of players who were either injured or undergoing operations, White was not one of those.

Ironically, he has now returned to something like full fitness ahead of Andrew Flintoff, who was part of the original party.

Before White's fans get too excited though, they should remember that he was on the 1994/5 Ashes tour but his tour ended early on when he tore a side muscle.

And it was not until the summer of 2000 that he finally started achieving the results he had always looked capable of.

But just as his career was ready to take off, injuries started cropping up again.

Catalogue of misfortune

November 2000: In the Lahore Test, White hits a crucial 93, overcoming a hamstring problem just in time.

May 2001: He misses the two home Tests against Pakistan with a stress fracture.

July 2001: Returns for the home Ashes series, but performs below par and his imperfect defensive technique is cruelly exposed by Australia's brilliant bowlers.

September 2001: Slips in the bath to miss the one-day series in Zimbabwe, but returns for the three Tests in India.

December 2001: Tears cartilage in his left knee to miss the one-day series in India.

White took a liking to India's spinners

One could argue that the last thing England need to strengthen their squad is a man seemingly permanently jinxed by injuries.

But the harsh reality is that there is hardly any bowler in their thoughts who has a decent fitness record.

And in White, they at least have someone who has a Test century and two five-wicket hauls under his belt.

He will be 33 before the fourth Test starts in Melbourne on Boxing Day, the same age as Shane Warne who knows him well from Australian Academy days.

Don't bet on White having taken more wickets than Warne by then, but if he has then the miracle England need to win this Ashes series may have happened.