Ex-Oz bowler Whitney recalls Little Master Tendulkar's apprenticeship

Sachin Tendulkar enters the Boxing Day Test, his 17th in Australia, with a record that suggests he feels more at home here with each visit, but former Australian left-arm fast bowler Michael Whitney, who is now a television personality and commentator, recalls the Little Master's awesome maiden performance Down Under two decades ago.

Asked for his impressions of the first of Tendulkar's five Test tours, and Whitney takes just 30 seconds to recall Tendulkar's blistering 148 at the SCG in 1992.

"I remember that game because I was picked as 12th man, and Bruce Reid bowled about half-a-dozen overs and broke down. I had to field, and Tendulkar got 148 and Ravi Shastri got 206. I just remember chasing the f---ing ball from one end of the SCG to the other, and being very frustrated that I couldn't bowl, couldn't bat, couldn't take any other part in the game than chasing leather," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Whitney, as saying.

Whitney, however, consoles himself with the fact he claimed a teenage Tendulkar's wicket twice in that series, won 4-0 by Australia.

He was the first bowler to dismiss the fledgling Little Master in a Test in Australia, and went on to take a career-best 11 wickets in the fifth Test in Perth.

Tendulkar's average over the four previous tours of Australia are 46 in 1991-92; 46.33 in 1999-2000; 76.6 in 2003-04, and 70.42 in 2007-08.

It has, more or less, been on an upward trend since he first landed here 20 years ago.

Whitney remembers clearly the three-day match in the Northern Rivers, particularly Tendulkar's 82 in an Indian first-innings total of 209. "Lismore was a very sporting wicket. If you have a look at the figures, Wayne Holdsworth and I did most of the damage," Whitney says.

"It was pretty much a green top. I think I took six-for in the second innings. The ball was seaming and swinging everywhere, and [Tendulkar] looked unbelievable that day amongst a collapsing batting line-up," he adds.

Facing a Blues team that included Mark Taylor, Steve and Mark Waugh, Michael Bevan, Greg Matthews and Geoff Lawson, the stocky 18-year-old made an instant impression.

"Tendulkar has the finest technique of any player of his age I have seen," the then NSW Cricket Association president Alan Davidson told the Herald at the time.

He added: "He's got a glorious gift. It's just not possible ... such maturity." (ANI)