The right rose is in the name for Jack White
Jack White arrived at Headingley from Northamptonshire in November 2024, signing a two-year contract. He was new head coach Anthony McGrath’s first recruit.
The 33-year-old’s first wicket for Yorkshire will be his 150th in senior first-team cricket; 114 first-class, 30 in List A and five in T20s.
His full name is Curtley-Jack White, all because his father liked the name of the West Indian Test game, Curtly Ambrose.
White was a late starter in professional cricket, having only made his first-team debut aged 28 in August 2020. That was for Northamptonshire in a Bob Willis Trophy fixture against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.
Born in Kendal, the major gateway town to the Lake District, he played age-group cricket for Cumbria and went on to play Minor Counties cricket for Cumberland and Cheshire.
In that sense, the comparisons to England limited overs quick Richard Gleeson are understandable. He grew up over the other side of the Pennines, he was plucked out of league and Minor Counties cricket to play for Northamptonshire and has progressed impressively ever since.
White has played club cricket in the Lancashire, Northern and Cheshire Leagues and has also played out in Australia and New Zealand during the winters, the latter where he has family.
Northamptonshire offered him some second-team cricket in 2018 and then a subsequent contract.
In terms of the comparisons to Gleeson, White doesn’t have the express pace that the current Warwickshire man possesses, but he has plenty of skill.
Injuries have limited his progress – he only played four Championship matches for the Wantage Road side last summer, for example.
But, in 2023, he claimed 50 Championship wickets from 14 matches when Northamptonshire were in Division One. He was named their Players’ Player of the Year.
His career best of 6-38 came against McGrath’s Essex at Chelmsford at the back end of the 2022 season, a Championship match in which he claimed nine wickets overall.
White’s last game for Northamptonshire was against Yorkshire at Headingley in the final Championship match of 2024, in late September. In April, he will be steaming in at Headingley with the white rose on his chest – an exciting prospect indeed.
UPDATED: Feb 2025.
