David William "Butch" White (14 December 1935 – 1 August 2008) was an English cricketer who played in two Test matches for England against Pakistan in 1961 and 1962.
A fast bowler, he played most of his first-class cricket at domestic level for Hampshire from 1957 to 1971, forming a formidable bowling partnership with Derek Shackleton.
[2] During National Service as a driving instructor in the British Army, White earned a trial with Hampshire,[3] making his first-class debut against Cambridge University at Bournemouth in 1957,[4] and joining the county staff in 1958.
[1] The 1960 season came in a period where there was "a jittery witch-hunt against chuckers", with White being called three times for chucking by umpire Paul Gibb against Sussex.
[8] Commenting on White's first full season, Trevor Bailey remarked that he "was the most exciting discovery Hampshire have made in years" and rated him amongst the fastest bowlers in county cricket.
[3] He played a notable batting innings against Oxford University during the season, striking 28 runs from an over bowled by Dan Piachaud, a scoring sequence which contained four successive sixes.
[8] His bowling partnership with Shackleton played a pivitol role in helping Hampshire to win their first County Championship in 1961.
[6] One of his most notable contributions with the ball came against Sussex at Portsmouth, when he took a hat-trick to dismiss Jim Parks, Ian Thomson, and Donald Smith; he would have had a fourth successive wicket, had Jimmy Gray not dropped Graham Cooper, but he did succeed in dismissing Cooper with the sixth ball of the over.
[1] Although a tailender, he played an important innings in June 1961, when chasing 199 runs for victory against Gloucestershire, Hampshire were reduced to 162 for 8.
He returned in February for the 3rd Test against Pakistan at Karachi,[12] where he bowled Imtiaz Ahmed with his first ball of the match, but pulled a muscle and was unable to continue after only 16 deliveries.
[1] Although he had suffered a series of injuries during the tour,[8] he still topped the tourists' bowling averages, with 32 wickets at 19.84,[1] playing on "docile" pitches which offered little assistance to fast bowlers.
[9] White found his opportunities at Test level restricted by competition from Brian Statham and Fred Trueman.
[6] White was a member of Hampshire's team for their inaugural appearance in List A one-day cricket against Derbyshire in the 1963 Gillette Cup.
[16] He made seventeen one-day appearances in 1969, helping Hampshire to finish second in the inaugural Player's County League.
At the beginning of his career, he troubled batsmen with his ability to inswing the ball into the right-batsman, though under the guidance of Shackleton he developed an effective outswinger.