THE nagging back trouble which continues to afflict Craig White has become a serious problem for both the former England all-rounder and Yorkshire who are missing out on his services at a critical stage of the season.

And unless he shows a big improvement soon, one must start to wonder if his first class career is going to be under serious threat.Following an injury late last season, White had a shoulder operation during the winter and was not fit enough to do any bowling until Yorkshire went on their pre-season tour of South Africa.

Even then he was not entirely happy because he had continued to experience discomfort after the operation and had undergone an injection to relieve the pain.

White was, therefore, unsure if the operation had got to the root of the problem, but he bowled well at the start of the domestic season and after the first four championship matches he topped the national first class averages with 23 wickets at 11.52 runs apiece.

In the game against Gloucestershire, which Yorkshire went on to lose by 300 runs, White was in dynamic form in the first innings when he claimed eight for 55 and weighed in with a hat-trick.

But shortly afterwards he started being bothered by nagging back pain again and dropped out of the side after the Benson and Hedges Cup semi-final defeat against Essex at Headingley when he was unable to bowl with complete freedom.

Since then, White has had two injections on his back and has played against Cambridge University and for Yorkshire Seconds against Worcestershire at Harrogate in an attempt to declare himself fit.

Although he batted and bowled in both those games, however, he still struggled with his back and was unable to give skipper David Byas any assurances about his overall fitness.

Byas had no option, therefore, but to tell him not to travel to Maidstone for last Sunday's AXA League match against Kent and his absence from that game meant he also had to miss this week's crucial NatWest Trophy second round game against Lancashire at Old Trafford.

Had White been able to show better batting form earlier in the season, he could well have won back his England place by now.

But his lack of cricket right in the middle of the season makes it unlikely that he will be able to do enough even if he returns to catch the eye of the Test selectors for this winter's tour of Australia - which is what he had set his sights on.

Yorkshire undoubtedly missed White's ability to break partnerships at Maidstone, both in the second innings of the championship match when Kent scored 580 for nine declared, and in the AXA League fixture when the young bowlers rather went to pieces and a calmer head was needed.

Yet the youngsters are an exciting bunch and getting better by the day and White just cannot afford to be forced to be out of the action for any length of time, otherwise someone will steal his place on a regular basis.

A couple of days ago, White went to see a specialist for a further opinion on his back problem and everyone will be keeping their fingers crossed in the hope that a cure can be found and that his career can go forwards again and not another step back.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.