White hones bowling

Victorian captain and Australian limited overs batsman Cameron White has revealed that he has been working on his bowling in an attempt to enhance his chances of further national selection.

The 27-year-old has played only four Tests in his career, on the tour of India two years ago but has been a mainstay of the one-day and Twenty20 teams since midway through 2008 at international level.

Having claimed just five wickets in those four Tests as well as 12 in 68 ODIs and one in his 22 T20 appearances, White has earned selection for the most part as a batsman even though he broke into the first-class ranks with the Bushrangers as a 17-year-old a decade ago.

"And if an opportunity comes in the other formats at the next level that'd be great but it's the same old story, you can't really worry too much about that, I've just got to make sure I'm scoring runs and give myself the best opportunity."

"I'm always working away on my bowling ... and then on the weekend I bowled six or seven overs of leg-spin in the trial game which I bowled quite well," he added.

"We had a practice match the other day which was our first look at the new format and that went pretty well," White said.

"I'm pretty excited about it actually."

"There's a fair bit of new stuff in there, rule changes and simply the format as well."

"I think it all shapes up as a good format and competition so I think we'll look forward to it."

Country before IPL says Clarke

AUSTRALIA vice-captain Michael Clarke believes cricketers must make wiser career choices before they complain about the demands made on them by a hectic schedule.

On the day Mike Hussey and Doug Bollinger belatedly joined the Australian squad after winning the Twenty20 Champions League with Chennai in South Africa, Clarke spoke firmly about the fact that players could dictate their own career path.

The 29-year-old has been arguably the most high-profile player in the world not participating in the lucrative Indian Premier League, preferring to concentrate on representing his country around the world and spending the remainder of his time at home.

"For me we all have a choice, you don't have to play IPL, you don't have to play Champions League," Clarke said on Tuesday.

"For me personally right now it's about representing my country, and every game I have to play for Australia, I'm going to do that - that's my priority.

"The toughest thing for them getting used to the conditions is in the pitch, change of format and then how hot it is," he said.

"But the guys just played the three-day practice game and that was our first game and a lot of the guys performed there.

"I don't see any reason why Dougy and Huss can't come straight in, they've both got experience in Indian conditions, so I'm very confident they'll be fine with a couple of training days under their belt.

"Who knows what's going to happen with Champions League, IPL and then your Test series, how things coincide, but for this tour we've got to accept it, it's not ideal, but as long as the guys are fresh it also about getting yourself fit and as well prepared as you can."