Bat and ball 
/ Ralph Ellis / 29 February 2012 / Leave a Comment 
Another chance gone. Sachin Tendulkar is out to his Mumbai Indians team-mate Lasith Malinga and the wait for his 100th 100 goes on.
"You start to wonder if it will ever happen, though. Just as Gary Lineker missed the penalty that should have tied him with Bobby Charlton at the top of the all-time England goalscoring charts, so it seems Tendulkar could also miss out on a record everybody thought would be his."
It's now over a year since Sachin Tendulkar struck his 99th international century but the 100th is yet to come. And as the matches go by, the Little Master and his billion plus fans must be doubting whether it will ever come, says Ralph Ellis.
All top cricketers know about the nervous nineties. One minute they are batting freely, effortlessly hitting fours or sixes and seeing what is normally a small, red cricket ball like it was a giant beach ball. The next they are scratching for a single or two to push and prod their way to the magic three figures.
It's why the first international century is the hardest to get. The nerves kick in and however much you are trying to bat for the team, it has suddenly become an individual sport. Get there once and it becomes far simpler to pass the milestone again.
But what if, like Sachin Tendulkar, you are trying to reach the 100th hundred? Then, it seems, you go right back to the beginning and the nerves take over like a novice.
It's nearly a year now since the Little Master made it to 99 with an imperious display against South Africa in a World Cup group game. We all thought it was written in the stars that he'd wait until India were at Lord's for a Test last summer to reach the milestone, but Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson put paid to that. And so it has gone on. Until today Tendulkar, who wasn't expected to play in the Asia Cup at the end of March, has had a change of heart and been included in India's squad to give him yet another chance to get that very elusive ton.
You start to wonder if it will ever happen, though. Just as Gary Lineker missed the penalty that should have tied him with Bobby Charlton at the top of the all-time England goalscoring charts, so it seems Tendulkar could also miss out on a record everybody thought would be his.
Tendulkar's inclusion and the fervour it will create means India will be favourites for the Asia Cup, but the competition will be strong. Pakistan are bound to benefit from the arrival of new head coach Dav Whatmore, who has the perfect credentials to add structure to a team that has plenty of talent. And Sri Lanka, with the inimitable talents of Tillakaratne Dilshan - who scored a magnificent 160 not out against the Indians in the Commonwealth Bank tournament yesterday, will always be a force.
Certainly England coach Andy Flower won't have enjoyed watching the sort of form that Dilshan displayed in Hobart - even if he might have been more encouraged at their poor bowling, as Virat Kohli crashed the way to a winning score of 321 with more than 13 overs to spare.
After rightly being lauded for his leadership in winning the Ashes in Australia, then moving to the top of the world rankings, Flower is under pressure for the first time. He's axed Eoin Morgan from his squad that will tour Sri Lanka once the Asia Cup is over, and turned to Samit Patel in the search for a new number six.
England are [2.98] favourites to win the first Test, but much will depend on whether Flower, after admitting he got the preparation for the Pakistan series wrong, has learned lessons from that. There will be tricky spin to deal with again, and this time England must have an answer.
After all, nothing in sport comes easily. Just ask Tendulkar.
Five things you might not know about Dav Whatmore
1. Born March 1954 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, he taught himself to bat by throwing a ball against a wall before hitting it because his two sisters wouldn't play cricket with him.
2.When he was eight the family emigrated to Australia and moved to Melbourne. He went to Mentone Grammer School, but developed a stutter as a reaction to bullying because he was an Asian.
3.He scored more than 6,000 runs for Victoria but played only seven Tests for Australia during the Kerry Packer era and his top score was 78. He says now: "I had the talent to be a top player but not the application. I wish I'd had a coach like me at that time."
4.His most famous achievement as a coach might have been Sri Lanka's 1996 World Cup win, but he was also the man in charge of Lancashire's one-day double winning team two years later.
5.He says he has many heroes but has only ever asked for one autograph - when he met Posh Spice, aka Victoria Beckham, and his daughter Alexandra insisted he come home with her signature.
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