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White handed Big Bash League lifeline

Veteran signs one-year deal with Adelaide Strikers after he was let go by Victoria and the Renegades

Veteran Cameron White will stretch his career into a 19th domestic season after he was handed a KFC BBL lifeline by the Adelaide Strikers.

Despite winning all three domestic titles last season, White’s career was at a crossroads after he was axed from Victoria’s list of contracted players last week having earlier been let go by the Melbourne Renegades.

He had been linked to the Perth Scorchers, but the Strikers have swooped in with a one-year deal a fortnight after the Adelaide club confirmed South African import Colin Ingram won’t be returning next season.

"Cameron adds a considerable amount to our side not only with his ability, but also his understanding of the game and he knows what it takes to be in a successful team," said Tim Nielsen, Adelaide’s general manager of high performance who was coach of Australia when White made his Test debut in 2008.

"In the fast-paced nature of T20 cricket, a cool head such as Cameron’s will help lead our side immensely, especially in the absence of Travis Head when he is on international duty.

"To have such a distinguished player of our game will only boost our side and our younger players."

White is the fifth-highest run-scorer in BBL history and has played 234 T20 matches around the world during his career, including 47 for Australia.

White will link up with Strikers coach Jason Gillespie, and said recently he would look towards his own move into coaching as well as playing in the coming BBL season.

"It might be good thing for me to get out of Victoria and learn from some new people," White said on RSN's Breakfast Club.

"If I want to coach, that's the sort of thing I'm going to have to do.

Throwback to Cam White's Aussie highlights

"One of the benefits of playing for a long time in Australia and the IPL and in county cricket, I've seen a lot of coaches and soaked up a lot of info and played with a lot of good players, talked to them, taken little bits of info from hundreds of them.

"On the flip side, I've played in teams where the coaches are hopeless too.

"Playing in all those different countries and just been able to watch and see how people have gone about it and with my own things I've learnt, I've bundled that all up into an idea of how the game is played and how it all works.

"Hopefully that holds me in a good place to be a half-decent coach at some point. "

Adelaide Strikers BBL|09 squad: Wes Agar, Alex Carey, Travis Head, Rashid, Khan (OS), Ben Laughlin, Jake Lehmann, Michael Neser, Liam O'Connor, Matt Short, Peter Siddle, Billy Stanlake, Cameron Valente, Jake Weatherald, Jon Wells, Nick Winter (two to be added)