White over the moon with IPL fortune
By IANSSunday, January 9, 2011
MELBOURNE - Cameron White’s career has taken a big turn in two days with the Australian Twenty20 captaincy falling in his lap and then the Indian Premier League (IPL) making him a milionaire.
The 27-year-old was Friday named Australia’s Twenty20 captain, replacing Michael Clarke, who quit the short format of the game to focus on Test cricket after their Ashes loss.
Fortune smiled upon White Saturday when Deccan Chargers bankrolled him for $1.1 million in the IPL auction where many star overseas players either went unsold or had to contend with smaller paycheques.
“It has been a big couple of days,” White was quoted as saying in the Australian media.
“Obviously it sits pretty well,” White said of his new IPL contract.
“Like the last couple of days, it probably hasn’t sunk in. It’s obviously a nice thing to happen, the last couple of days, so yeah, what can you say?”
The big-hitting White at age 20 became the youngest skipper in the state’s history, leading Victoria.
White, who hails from the small city of Bairnsdale in Victoria’s Gippsland region has retained his laid back country persona.
David Hussey, who himself got a whopping $1.4m IPL contract with the Kings XI Punjab, rates White an inspiring leader.
“He oozes lots of self-confidence and I think that helps his cricket brain as well,” said Hussey.
“He’s been around for a long time and I think he’ll do remarkably well in the T20 format and hopefully further down the track higher honours as well.
“He’s got a very very good cricket brain, he does think very swiftly and he likes to lead from the front and do the business himself and watch others follow.”
