Cameron White Stakes His Claim for Place in Australia's ODI Squad for World Cup

Trotted out endlessly in the cricketing world, there are few bigger buzz words in the game than "composure."

In the frantic, LED-lit and cheerleader-laden domain of Twenty20 cricket, that term describes a quality that all aspire to but few ever actually attain. 

Yet in Cameron White, Australia, it seems, might just have one of those rare players—the sort capable of slowing down this frenetic, self-contained world dominated by fast-food sponsors and DJs with too few songs—who can excel while others get caught up in the strange, twisted, outdoor nightclub-feel of it all. 

On Sunday, the Victorian's cool head guided his team to a scrappy, two-wicket victory over South Africa in Sydney, compiling a vital and unbeaten 41 to cover the rash mistakes of his teammates. 

Arriving at the crease with the score at 62-4 in the chase of 146, the 31-year-old found himself needing to repair an innings that had slumped from a bright opening when losing three wickets for nine runs in the space of just 12 deliveries. 

The recovery effort appeared to be straightforward while he was partnered first by Glenn Maxwell, and then by James Faulkner, but the pair's needless heaves that resulted in their demises made the situation more than a little tricky for White—"[It] got a little bit twitchy there," he admitted after the match, per ESPN Cricinfo. 

Of course, the required run-rate never really spiralled out of control for the hosts, but it did seem Australia were capable of imploding in a quiet panic when one glanced at the inexperienced lower-order remaining for home side.

In such a situation, it would have been easy for White to open his drawer of muscular shots and attempt to blast Australia out of their predicament, for he has often been perceived as a player of force but no finesse. 

Instead, however, the right-hander opted for an array of carefully placed singles—19 of them, in fact—that were interspersed with a handful of typically lusty blows, recognising that the odd boundary mixed with steady accumulation would be enough for victory. A hardly emphatic one but a victory nonetheless. 

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"Chasing 140 should be pretty comfortable most times, [but] we got there in the end," White remarked when interviewed later. 

When he launched the loose Wayne Parnell into the stand over long-off in the 15th over, it certainly looked comfortable for Australia, who needed just six runs per over with high-calibre Twenty20 players at the crease. 

In the end, however, White had to steer his team through a nervy ending when Pat Cummins and Sean Abbott found making solid contact rather troublesome in the final overs.

Appropriately, it was White who pinched the winning run when forcing a single to mid-wicket, enjoying a small fist-pump when reaching the other end that suggested he has his eye on something bigger: the World Cup.  

Of course, the Victorian isn't currently part of his nation's one-day international side, with his involvement limited to the 20-over game ever since his last ODI back in early 2011.

But Australia's team across all formats is hardly settled, and with a long summer of cricket against South Africa, India and England to come before the World Cup arrives, plenty of opportunities are still available for fringe players such as White to push for a place in the squad as the global tournament approaches. 

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One feels that White, who exhibited excellent form throughout the domestic one-day competition this year, made a strong first claim for his inclusion on Sunday, embodying that elusive composure and outplaying established 50-over stars such as Maxwell and Shane Watson in the process. 

"It's nice to be making runs, that's my job, so hopefully [I can] keep doing it," he said rather plainly after securing the victory. 

For more than three years now, his job in Australian colours has been extremely specific, limited to brief exhibitions of power hitting in the spasmodic world of Twenty20 cricket on the international stage. 

His performance on Sunday might have been the first step in earning a significant promotion.