White: Australia hitting their straps

Cameron White will be hoping he can take the form he showed against Middlesex into the NatWest Series opener on Tuesday

Match-winning batsman Cameron White believes Australia are hitting their straps at the right time ahead of the NatWest Series against England.

The 26-year-old hit eight fours and a six to reach his maiden hundred at Lord’s, where Australia recovered from 64 for four to canter past Middlesex's impressive total of 273 with 13 balls to spare.

And White, who shared a 176-run partnership with Mike Hussey to lead the tourists to victory, was delighted to register his first ton at the home of cricket.

He said: “I’ve played a few games here, a couple for Australia and also for Somerset, when I played county cricket for them, but never got a hundred here.

“Although it’s only a warm-up match, it’s not every day you get to play here, so it was nice to get some runs when we needed them.

“To their credit Middlesex bowled pretty well at the start on what was a bit of a funny, two-paced wicket, so it was good to win from that position. But I felt Mike Hussey batted beautifully as well.

“We were pretty good bowling today, especially early on when I think we were much improved from the other day against Ireland.

“Hopefully we can improve another notch down at Southampton on Tuesday when I think we’ll be almost at the right spot that we need to be at.”

The Middlesex score was built around an elegant 92 from Owais Shah, who hopes the knock may remind England’s selectors of his quality.

Shah said: “I’ve felt in pretty good nick since coming back from the IPL but without scoring the weight of runs I might have early on in the summer.

“It’s picked up for me in the last three weeks and I feel really good in my game, I’m stroking it reasonably and today’s knock was a continuation of that. It was nice to have some runs to show for it.

“I haven’t heard from the England camp, I look at the reason I was left behind which was because I’m not consistent enough. So I guess I just need to try to be more consistent.
“Their bowlers did the basics really well today, hit their lines and lengths early on and were always attacking the stumps, those are the basics of one-day cricket.

“What I would say is that there isn't the firepower around in their attack like Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee, who were involved last summer when England lost quite heavily. That could prove a big difference with this trip.”