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23 Facts About Mike Whitney

1.

Michael Roy Whitney was born on 24 February 1959 and is a retired Australian television personality and former cricketer, who played in 12 Test matches and 38 One Day Internationals between 1981 and 1993.

2.

Mike Whitney grew up in Matraville, in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney.

3.

Mike Whitney began playing cricket at Matraville Public School, South Sydney Boys High and the Botany United Junior Cricket Club.

4.

Mike Whitney played all of his senior club cricket for the Randwick Cricket Club in the Sydney Grade Competition.

5.

Mike Whitney played 94 first-class matches for New South Wales from 1980 to 1994.

6.

Mike Whitney is one of only three fast bowlers to take more than three hundred first-class wickets for New South Wales; the others are Geoff Lawson and Trent Copeland.

7.

Australia was touring England in 1981, and Mike Whitney was in England playing Northern League Cricket in Lancashire for Fleetwood and some County Cricket for Gloucestershire.

8.

Injuries to Rodney Hogg and Geoff Lawson in the Australian squad led to Mike Whitney playing the final two tests of the tour.

9.

Mike Whitney was the first Australian Test cricketer to be selected this way.

10.

Mike Whitney later played 10 more Tests between 1987 and 1993.

11.

Mike Whitney took 11 wickets in a match against India in Perth, including 7 for 27 in the second innings.

12.

Mike Whitney took 7 for 89 in the first innings of the Fifth Test against the West Indies in Adelaide in 1989.

13.

Mike Whitney toured the West Indies in 1991 and Sri Lanka in 1992.

14.

Mike Whitney played 38 One Day Internationals, and was Australia's leading wicket-taker and most economical bowler in the 1992 World Cup.

15.

Mike Whitney is a Life Member of Cricket New South Wales and the Randwick Petersham Cricket Club.

16.

On January 4,2024 Mike Whitney was inducted into the New South Wales Cricket Hall of Fame along with John Dyson, a Randwick, New South Wales and Australian team mate.

17.

On 8 March 2009, Mike Whitney was inducted as a life member by the South Sydney Rabbitohs for his contribution in being a Director and Deputy Chairman on the Football Club Board in the critical period during the club's battle for reinstatement to the competition between 1999 and 2001.

18.

Mike Whitney played a decisive role with media personality Andrew Denton and lawyer Nick Pappas in attracting fellow Life Member Kerry Stokes to the club as a major sponsor just before its readmission to the competition in 2002, a coup that ensured the club's ability to make its triumphant return to the NRL competition.

19.

Mike Whitney worked as a reporter at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games for the Seven Network.

20.

In January 2022, the Seven Network announced that Mike Whitney would depart Sydney Weekender, after presenting the show for almost 30 years.

21.

Mike Whitney's role was filled by former athlete and Seven News sports reporter Matt Shirvington.

22.

Mike Whitney played the tambourine and sang lead vocals for the band.

23.

Mike Whitney now plays with a band called Oz Icons with Wayne "Junior" Pearce.