White: A pivotal member of the English side Photo © CricInfo Ltd.

It's been an incredible 12 months for Craig White. Called up as a replacement for the injured Andrew Flintoff for the one-day games against South Africa and Zimbabwe last winter, he has since become a pivotal member of the Test and one-day teams with his increasingly positive batting, and aggressive fast bowling.

White took 13 wickets at just 18.15 in four Tests against the West Indies during the summer of 2000, and although his batting returns were less impressive, he put that right in Pakistan, where he averaged 59.33 with the bat (bolstered by a Test best effort of 93 in the Lahore Test), and took nine wickets at 30.44 – second only to Gough amongst the seamers.

He has been accused of lacking the mental toughness to prosper in Test cricket, but increased security within the team and a more robust demeanour have been vital ingredients in his development as a truly international class all-rounder. He revealed that the comments of some of the Pakistan team, that may have bothered him in the past, actually spurred him on in Lahore, where they greeted his arrival at the crease by calling him a "nightwatchman."

"I think I'm much better able to deal with that sort of thing now than I was five years ago," he admitted. "I had a few words in Pakistan with their players and I enjoy it. It fires me up and gets the best out of me.

"When there are a few verbals flying around that's when I play at my best. Sometimes in county cricket you go through the motions a little bit and you find it hard to get fired-up because there isn't the same level of competitiveness."

The self-confidence that comes with success has convinced White to have greater faith in his natural abilities, and play the sort of positive cricket that comes naturally to him. It's a method he's keen to apply against Sri Lanka in what promises to be another spin dominated encounter.

"Everyone has their own gameplan on how to play the spinners, but I'd rather be out playing an attacking shot than out caught around the bat," he reasoned. "When I was out for 93 in Lahore I was defending and I was very annoyed because I wish I'd got out trying to hit a six or something like that. So, after that innings, I told myself I wasn't going to get out defending again and tried to be positive, and if I got out that way I'd have to take it on the chin.

"I have never played Sri Lanka before, so I don't know if they're verbally aggressive on the pitch. I'm sure there will be a bit of chirping when they have men around the bat, but it will probably be hard to understand what they're saying anyway."

And White is relishing the opportunity of taking on Australia in the Ashes series of next summer: "The Australians will try everything, but you have to be mentally strong enough to override that," he said. "I don't worry too much about what the other team are doing; I just concentrate on my job.

"Someone said Steve Waugh mentioned me as one of the players who is going to be a threat to them. I take that as a massive compliment and if they target me as one of their threats I will take that as a positive."

© CricInfo Ltd.