Aussies bowled over by Tendulkar's batting

As Sachin Tendulkar sizzled at the MCG on the first day of the tour-opener against Victoria on Tuesday, cricketers and writers alike tripped over each other while offering tributes to arguably the greatest batsman in contemporary cricket.

Australia all-rounder Ian Harvey huddled Victoria's fielders at the lunch break and told them to "get behind the bowler a bit rather than just enjoy watching him bat".

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Left-arm medium-pacer Matthew Innes did get Tendulkar in the end but said he was fortunate not to be bowling too much to the little master.

"He'd whip one off the stumps, then you'd bowl a little bit wider and he'd hit you down past gully for four. Lucky, I wasn't bowling too much when he was on fire."

Baum, ecstatic with what he saw of Tendulkar in the middle, described him "like a tongue into a groove in the middle".

The writer bordered on the poetic and saw a similarity between Tendulkar and the construction work being carried out in the Northern Stands of the Melbourne Cricket Ground during the day.

"Two sounds filled the stadium with their echoes, variously the hammering, drilling and thumping of the labourers at their toils and the sweet crack of Tendulkar's bat at play. Both promised much entertainment in the days and years ahead," Baum wrote.

"Not even when Engineer and Contractor played could an Indian innings have looked better put together than when fortified by Tendulkar.

"He moved into his work in the afternoon. An exquisitely timed flick from the hip brought two, a savage cut four. Brett Harrop was not disgraced, just learning. Andrew McDonald was sent away to square leg, fine leg and long on for three fours in four deliveries. He, too, was learning."

Malcolm Conn, writing in The Australian, declared Tendulkar as a "must-see attraction" of the series ahead.

"Tendulkar alone is enough to whet the appetite for the four Tests this series. He is a must see attraction.

"For a fraction of the price of a rugby World Cup ticket, it will be possible to watch one of the greats of all-time bat."

Conn said the difference between the class of Tendulkar and others was there for all to see.

"The lesser mortals who batted above Tendulkar treated each delivery as if it was a potential hand grenade but from the moment he returned to the crease after lunch, the right-hander displayed his full armoury.

"When Tendulkar stood erect to the second delivery of a new spell from left-arm paceman Matthew Innes and smashed a good length ball back down the ground, it appeared he had become impossible to bowl to," Conn wrote.