Yorkshire’s White answers his critics with Test century against Indians

White’s 121 against India in Ahmedabad was a vivid demonstration of a mercurial talent and the Morley-born all-rounder’s solitary Test century.

Thirteen months earlier, against Pakistan in Lahore, White had just missed out on a three-figure score, falling for 93 in a near-miss he described as “one of the biggest disappointments of my life”.

But all that was forgotten amid the heat and dust of the Sardar Patel Stadium as White finally enjoyed his day in the sun, striking his runs from 265 balls with two sixes and 12 fours against an attack boasting the formidable spin twins Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.

For White, the innings was a satisfying response to his doubters and critics.

When the Yorkshire all-rounder first played for England in 1994, there were those who contended that Raymond Illingworth’s White Rose bias had overstepped the mark in his role as chairman of selectors.

White found himself in-and-out of the side before his Test career was revitalised, aged 30, in 2000 – the prelude to successful tours of Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

By 2001-02, White had become a key figure, his innings in Ahmedabad confirming that Illingworth had been right all along to pinpoint the potential of a man who, on his day, could destroy an attack with the bat as easily as he could destroy a batting line-up with reverse-swing delivered at deceptively high pace. Fittingly, White’s hundred was not without its white-knuckle moments as an all-action cricketer produced a typically all-action innings.

Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack observed: “Seven and a half years and twenty three Tests after his international debut, White’s vulnerable yet unquestioned talent finally held sway in an innings that, suitably, was stylish one minute, fretful the next.

“It had its good fortune – during a 105-run partnership with Foster, Dasgupta failed to stump him, on 44, off Harbhajan, and dropped a simple chance off Srinath when he was 63; in the same over, Kumble dropped a difficult one when White hooked to long leg.”

But White’s knock included plenty of stylish cover drives and two straight sixes off Harbhajan as he lifted England from a parlous 180-5 to 407 all-out, a man-of-the-match performance in a game that ended drawn.

Although England had the better of a match in which Sachin Tendulkar responded with a hundred for the home side, it was India who took the three-Test series 1-0.

The home team achieved a 10-wicket victory in the first Test in Mohali – a game in which former Yorkshire off-spinner Richard Dawson made his Test debut – before the White-inspired draw in Ahmedabad was followed by another stalemate in Bangalore.

White twice came close thereafter to another Test hundred, only to be left high and dry on both occasions.

In 2002, against India at Trent Bridge, he was unbeaten on 94 from the No 8 position when last man Steve Harmison was dismissed to bring England’s first innings to a close on 617.

There was also frustration of a sort in that game for another Yorkshire player, Michael Vaughan, who came agonisingly close to a double century.

Vaughan fell for 197, an innings that remained the highest of his first-class career.

White’s last close shave came in his final Test match, the Boxing Day game against Australia at Melbourne in 2002.

The game began inauspiciously for the visitors as Steve Waugh’s side made 551-6 declared after winning the toss.

Openers Justin Langer (250) and Matthew Hayden (102) led the way as only White (3-133 from 33 overs) emerged with much credit.

White’s victims were hardly the worst to have strapped on a pair of pads – Waugh himself, Ricky Ponting and another former Yorkshire player, Damien Martyn.

When England batted, they were soon in disarray against an impressive frontline attack of Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, Brett Lee and Stuart MacGill.

White walked out with the scoreboard showing a wretched 118-6.

But a positive attitude combined with some positive stroke play saw him rally the lower-order with another fine innings.

When the last wicket fell when Gillespie removed Harmison, White was stranded on 85 from 134 balls with nine fours and three sixes.

England lost the game by five wickets but White – not for the first time – could hold his head high.

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