Butch White
Encyclopedia
David William 'Butch' White (14 December 1935 – 1 August 2008) was a former English
cricket
er, who played in two Tests
from 1961 to 1962. He played county cricket for Hampshire
from 1957 to 1971, with a final season at Glamorgan
in 1972.
. In his youth, he played club cricket for Aston Unity in the Birmingham League and for Warwickshire Second XI. During National Service as a driving instructor in the Army, he made his first-class debut for Hampshire, playing against Cambridge University in 1957, and joining the county staff in 1958. The retirement of Vic Cannings in 1959 gave him the opportunity to open the bowling for Hampshire alongside Derek Shackleton
.
, White took 1,097 first-class wickets in 15 seasons with Hampshire
. He helped Hampshire win the County Championship
title for the first time in 1961 under captain Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie
, with White and Shackleton each taking over 100 wickets. At the time, White was considered one of the best fast bowlers in England. Many Hampshire fans consider him the fastest English bowler to have played for the county.
He was a muscular bowler, running in energetically from 25 yards, with a convulsive delivery stride. He troubled batsmen for pace, and combined a natural in-swinger with a ball that held its line outside off stump. He was no-balled
for throwing by Paul Gibb
twice in 1960, but Gibb later recognised that he had been mistaken. His batting was limited, and tended to the agricultural. In 1960, he scored 28 off an over bowled by Oxford University off-spinner Dan Piachaud
: after a dot ball, he hit four sixes and then a four.
He took over 100 wickets in a season on four occasions, claiming 6-10 at Middlesbrough
in 1965 against a Yorkshire
side (including Geoff Boycott, Brian Close
, Ray Illingworth
and Fred Trueman
) that was bowled out for its lowest ever first-class total of 23. His best figures being 9-44 against Leicestershire
at Portsmouth
in 1966.
He played just two Tests, both on the 1961/62 tour of Pakistan and India captained by Ted Dexter
. White's Test debut may have been delayed by early concerns at his bowling action, at a time when Geoff Griffin was causing controversy; competition from Brian Statham
and Fred Trueman
kept him out of the Test side during his best years. He opened the bowling in the First Test at Lahore
in October 1961, England's first Test in Pakistan, dismissing the Pakistani opening batsmen, Hanif Mohammed and Imtiaz Ahmed, within 16 balls, and ending the innings with 3-65. He also played in the final Test of the tour at Karachi
in February 1962. He bowled Imtiaz Ahmed with his first ball, but pulled a muscle and was unable to continue after only 16 deliveries. Although he suffered from a series of injuries on the tour, he topped to tourists' bowling averages, with 32 wickets at 19.84.
His benefit in 1969 raised £4,547. Persistent injury spoiled his season in 1971, and he was dropped from the team. He had a brief spell with Glamorgan
in 1972, playing in one county match and several limited-over fixtures.
and was a coach at Christ's Hospital
in Horsham
. He also played for New Milton in the Hampshire League, and made frequent appearances at Arundel Castle
cricket ground playing for the Duchess of Norfolk's XI
, amongst many others.
He was married twice, and had one son.
A keen golfer, he was engaged as a marshal at Mannings Heath
GC, but treasured his membership at West Sussex Golf Club in Pulborough
, where he was a popular member and enthusiastic competitor in all club competitions. He died after suffering a heart attack
on the golf course at Pulborough, West Sussex
.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er, who played in two Tests
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
from 1961 to 1962. He played county cricket for Hampshire
Hampshire County Cricket Club
Hampshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Hampshire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1863 as a successor to the Hampshire county cricket teams and has played at the Antelope Ground from then until 1885, before moving to the County Ground where it...
from 1957 to 1971, with a final season at Glamorgan
Glamorgan County Cricket Club
Glamorgan County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Glamorgan aka Glamorganshire . Glamorgan CCC is the only Welsh first-class cricket club. Glamorgan CCC have won the English County...
in 1972.
Early life
White was born in Sutton ColdfieldSutton Coldfield
Sutton Coldfield is a suburb of Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England. Sutton is located about from central Birmingham but has borders with Erdington and Kingstanding. Sutton is in the northeast of Birmingham, with a population of 105,000 recorded in the 2001 census...
. In his youth, he played club cricket for Aston Unity in the Birmingham League and for Warwickshire Second XI. During National Service as a driving instructor in the Army, he made his first-class debut for Hampshire, playing against Cambridge University in 1957, and joining the county staff in 1958. The retirement of Vic Cannings in 1959 gave him the opportunity to open the bowling for Hampshire alongside Derek Shackleton
Derek Shackleton
Derek Shackleton was a Hampshire and England bowler. He took over 100 wickets in 20 consecutive seasons of first-class cricket, but only played in seven Tests for England. As of 2007, he has the seventh-highest tally of first-class wickets, and the most first-class wickets of any player who...
.
First-class cricket career
A pace bowlerFast bowling
Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling...
, White took 1,097 first-class wickets in 15 seasons with Hampshire
Hampshire County Cricket Club
Hampshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Hampshire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1863 as a successor to the Hampshire county cricket teams and has played at the Antelope Ground from then until 1885, before moving to the County Ground where it...
. He helped Hampshire win the County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
title for the first time in 1961 under captain Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie
Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie
Alexander Colin David Ingleby-Mackenzie OBE was an English cricketer: a left-handed batsman who played for Hampshire between 1951 and 1966, captaining the county from 1958 to 1965 as Hampshire's last amateur captain and leading his side to their first County Championship in the 1961 season...
, with White and Shackleton each taking over 100 wickets. At the time, White was considered one of the best fast bowlers in England. Many Hampshire fans consider him the fastest English bowler to have played for the county.
He was a muscular bowler, running in energetically from 25 yards, with a convulsive delivery stride. He troubled batsmen for pace, and combined a natural in-swinger with a ball that held its line outside off stump. He was no-balled
No ball
In the sport of cricket a no ball is a penalty against the fielding team, usually as a result of an illegal delivery by the bowler. The delivery of a no ball results in one run to be added to the batting team's score, and an additional ball must be bowled...
for throwing by Paul Gibb
Paul Gibb
Paul Gibb was an English cricketer, who played in eight Tests for England from 1938 to 1946. He also played first-class cricket for Cambridge University and Yorkshire, mostly as a batsman but occasionally also keeping wicket.Gibb was educated at St Edward's School, Oxford, and played first-class...
twice in 1960, but Gibb later recognised that he had been mistaken. His batting was limited, and tended to the agricultural. In 1960, he scored 28 off an over bowled by Oxford University off-spinner Dan Piachaud
Dan Piachaud
Dan James Piachaud is a retired Sri Lankan cricketer. Piachaud was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm off break bowler....
: after a dot ball, he hit four sixes and then a four.
He took over 100 wickets in a season on four occasions, claiming 6-10 at Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough is a large town situated on the south bank of the River Tees in north east England, that sits within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire...
in 1965 against a Yorkshire
Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....
side (including Geoff Boycott, Brian Close
Brian Close
Dennis Brian Close , usually known as Brian Close, is a former cricketer who is the youngest man ever to play Test cricket for England. He was picked for the Test team to play against New Zealand, in July 1949, when he was 18 years old. Close went on to play 22 Test matches for England,...
, Ray Illingworth
Ray Illingworth
Raymond Illingworth, CBE is a former English cricketer, cricket commentator and cricket administrator. He was one of only nine players to have taken 2,000 wickets and made 20,000 runs in First class cricket, and the last one to do so...
and Fred Trueman
Fred Trueman
Frederick Sewards Trueman OBE was an English cricketer, generally acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers in history. A bowler of genuinely fast pace who was widely known as Fiery Fred, Trueman played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1949 until he retired in 1968...
) that was bowled out for its lowest ever first-class total of 23. His best figures being 9-44 against Leicestershire
Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland....
at Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
in 1966.
He played just two Tests, both on the 1961/62 tour of Pakistan and India captained by Ted Dexter
Ted Dexter
Edward Ralph Dexter CBE is a former English cricketer...
. White's Test debut may have been delayed by early concerns at his bowling action, at a time when Geoff Griffin was causing controversy; competition from Brian Statham
Brian Statham
John Brian "George" Statham, CBE was one of the leading English fast bowlers in 20th-century English cricket. Initially a bowler of a brisk fast-medium pace, Statham was able to remodel his action to generate enough speed to become genuinely fast...
and Fred Trueman
Fred Trueman
Frederick Sewards Trueman OBE was an English cricketer, generally acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers in history. A bowler of genuinely fast pace who was widely known as Fiery Fred, Trueman played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1949 until he retired in 1968...
kept him out of the Test side during his best years. He opened the bowling in the First Test at Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
in October 1961, England's first Test in Pakistan, dismissing the Pakistani opening batsmen, Hanif Mohammed and Imtiaz Ahmed, within 16 balls, and ending the innings with 3-65. He also played in the final Test of the tour at Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
in February 1962. He bowled Imtiaz Ahmed with his first ball, but pulled a muscle and was unable to continue after only 16 deliveries. Although he suffered from a series of injuries on the tour, he topped to tourists' bowling averages, with 32 wickets at 19.84.
His benefit in 1969 raised £4,547. Persistent injury spoiled his season in 1971, and he was dropped from the team. He had a brief spell with Glamorgan
Glamorgan County Cricket Club
Glamorgan County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Glamorgan aka Glamorganshire . Glamorgan CCC is the only Welsh first-class cricket club. Glamorgan CCC have won the English County...
in 1972, playing in one county match and several limited-over fixtures.
Later life
After retiring from the first class game, he settled in SussexSussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
and was a coach at Christ's Hospital
Christ's Hospital
Christ's Hospital is an English coeducational independent day and boarding school with Royal Charter located in the Sussex countryside just south of Horsham in Horsham District, West Sussex, England...
in Horsham
Horsham
Horsham is a market town with a population of 55,657 on the upper reaches of the River Arun in the centre of the Weald, West Sussex, in the historic County of Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester...
. He also played for New Milton in the Hampshire League, and made frequent appearances at Arundel Castle
Arundel Castle
Arundel Castle in Arundel, West Sussex, England is a restored medieval castle. It was founded by Roger de Montgomery on Christmas Day 1067. Roger became the first to hold the earldom of Arundel by the graces of William the Conqueror...
cricket ground playing for the Duchess of Norfolk's XI
Duke of Norfolk's XI
The Duke of Norfolk's XI is a scratch cricket team. It was originally named for the 16th Duke, but following his death in 1975 the team played on in his widow's name as Lavinia, Duchess of Norfolk's XI...
, amongst many others.
He was married twice, and had one son.
A keen golfer, he was engaged as a marshal at Mannings Heath
Mannings Heath
Mannings Heath is a village in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England, on the A281 a few miles south-east of the town of Horsham. It lies in the civil parish of Nuthurst....
GC, but treasured his membership at West Sussex Golf Club in Pulborough
Pulborough
Pulborough is a large village and civil parish in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England, with some 5,000 inhabitants. It is located almost centrally within West Sussex and is south west of London. It is at the junction of the north-south A29 and the east-west roads.The village is near the...
, where he was a popular member and enthusiastic competitor in all club competitions. He died after suffering a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
on the golf course at Pulborough, West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
.