White appointed as captain of Victoria

Cameron White, the legspinner, has been appointed as the captain of Victoria for the 2004-05 season. At 20, White is the youngest ever Victorian captain and will lead them in their attempt to defend the Pura Cup.

White captained the one-day side last season and stood in for Darren Berry in the Pura Cup, when Berry was injured in the first half of the season. White termed it a "massive honour" to succeed Berry, who retired after the Pura Cup final triumph.

White was also confident that this appointment will not affect his performances for the state. "I think I juggled it pretty well [last season]. I think it brings out the best in my game and the extra responsibility is good for me personally. So that's one thing that I find helps me get through each game from week to week and the season, I think it brings out the best in me as a player."

That extra responsibility will include captaining Shane Warne, his fellow legspinner, who has said that he intends to play as many matches as he can for Victoria this season. Warne's retirement from one-dayers will enable him to take part in domestic competitions.

"I think Shane will bowl first somehow," White joked. "Shane's great, he always gives me advice standing there - we both field in the slips and he's usually around the same area - so there's always lots of feedback from Shane."

Greg Shipperd, the Victoria coach, said that the selectors were mindful of White's outstanding performance despite being thrust captaincy for a part of last season. White took 26 wickets at 37.80 in the Pura Cup last season and finished with 522 runs at 40.15. In the ING Cup, he claimed 10 wickets at 36.30.

Victoria have not appointed a vice-captain but Shipperd said that Brad Hodge, Jonathan Moss and Matthew Elliott were capable of leading the side if White was unavailable. Shipperd also added that the Australian selectors had missed a good chance to give White some exposure into international cricket by overlooking him for the series against Sri Lanka.

"There was a missed opportunity there but the [Victorian] group is training particularly well already this season and Cameron's going to do a fine job for us."