Born to bat

When a callow teenager wields the willow like a mature batsman, people sit up and watch. This is exactly what happened when Sachin Tendulkar first put bat to ball in a Test match. Click here to read the editorial on Tendulkar in the Telegraph.

There are no solecisms in his [Tendulkar's] batting. The head is held still. The bat comes down straight. When playing forward, his left foot is always to the pitch of the ball, and there is no gap between bad and pad. When playing back, he goes right back, with the right foot across. The errors are rare and minimal.