Ponting looks to White to fill Hoggs slot in spin department

After the recent retirement of Brad Hogg from international cricket, Australian captain Ricky Ponting has pinned his hopes on leg-spinner Cameron White, who has for years played a second fiddle to his destructive power with the bat, saying that he could now help ease the workload of part-time spinners Michael Clarke and Andrew Symonds.

Melbourne, June 23 : After the recent retirement of Brad Hogg from international cricket, Australian captain Ricky Ponting has pinned his hopes on leg-spinner Cameron White, who has for years played a second fiddle to his destructive power with the bat, saying that he could now help ease the workload of part-time spinners Michael Clarke and Andrew Symonds.

Ponting admitted that after Brad Hogg, his side might face problems in the spin-bowling department.

The left-arm chinaman had been Australia's only regular frontline spin option in one-day cricket for the past five years, with two World Cups, 123 ODIs and 156 wickets at an average of 26.84 attesting to his influence.

"There's no question that the spin bowling department in both forms of the game for us is going to be a challenge. White's obviously been picked as the spinner on this tour ... we just need to keep exposing him to different situations and putting him under a bit more pressure ... and hopefully he plays a big role for us during the series," the age.com quoted Ponting as saying.

White, who averages over 50 with the ball in 16 ODIs, may yet bowl more than first thought in the series, with Symonds' back injury possibly restricting his output.

Symond has been battling back spasms for close to a week, but could yet play in the first one-dayer in St Vincent on Tuesday, with his condition improving considerably in recent days, added the report.

Australia takes on West Indies in their first limited-overs tournament since the retirements of Brad Hogg and Adam Gilchrist.

ANI