Tendulkar shatters yet another ODI record

Tendulkar's achievement has to be celebrated. The fact that nearly 3,000 one day internationals have been played highlights that this is a magnificent achievement. Tendulkar now has 93 international 100s (combining tests and ODIs) and the magic 100 international 100s cannot be far away.

yeah but batting against slow pies doesnt really count

Brett and Vinay, i cant agree with you more! you both obviously have a great passion for the game. Bring on 2011!!

Whiteline, M.Waugh's 173 was in Melbourne, 2001 v WI. I had it in my ind it was in Sydney, for some reason... [edit: sorry Mr Sports, that should have been addressed to Whiteline. I see you've found it too now..] MC, your points about pitch placement, etc, are just another reason why we should look at Tendulkar's knock as nothing other than what it is - a fantastic achievement, a milestone that we all thought would eventuate, and the time it's taken to eventuate just accentuates how big an achievement it is...

Mark Waugh's 173 was at the MCG and it was in 2001 which as far as i can recall was before the significant roping off we see these days began. the ground probably was roped but in those days i'm pretty sure it was rarely more than a metre or two.

and on that, the additional element of whether the pitch being used is dead centre of left most or right most (thus creating a short and a long boundary), and the wind, get those working hand in hand for the right batsman at the right time and even mis-hits might carry the rope.

Mr sports I seem to recall Mark Waugh's 173 was with boundaries that were roped and a LONG WAY IN - I can't remember where it was (someone will tell us) but they were very very short. That's one of the beautiful things about cricket I guess, is that it doesn't involve closed skills with the same conditions everytime.

Robbo, funnily enough, the previous record holder was a Zimbabwean, against Bangladesh.... Charles Coventry made 194* v Bangladesh at Bulawayo last August

so what's the answer then Vas?? Honestly, I'm not sure what you're wanting to get out of the game?

It is undoubtedly a fantastic achievement by Tendulkar, and I am actually a little surprised it didn't happen earlier, but it does go to illustrate how the bowler has been increasingly marginalised. Smaller, roped fields, more fielding restrictions, roads for pitches...

Vas, I'm hearing you mate but it's been that way for years. How many times did Hayden and now Sehwag get beaten outside off stump by a seaming or swinging ball? You just need to accept that the game has changed. Robbo, the record is bound to go. If you look at the top scores in the ODI game it is littered with similar performances to Tendulkar's at strike rates around 150. It takes patience as a batsman not to fall asleep during the middle overs when you have to push ones and twos all day. We all knew it would come and as everyone has said, it's not such a bad thing that Tendulkar got it.

Spot on Robbo.

What a freak. The thing to remember is this wasn't agains't a weak team like Bangladesh or Zimbabwe. It wasn't even against a New Zealand or England. Instead it was against one of the best attacks in World cricket. In all honesty I reckon this mark will never be broken. Many are saying ODI's will be gone in 5-10 years. If that is the case this mark will go down in history. Then again someone could score 210 against Scotland - but it sure won't be the same.

Interesting thing Brett. I'm not a bowler. I used to open the batting, and my captains would be loath to give me the ball at any time. While watching games like these are aesthetically pleasing, we tend to forget the impact it can make, especially the negative side. Like I said before, what young kid right now, watching countless games on flat pitches, would want to be a bowler? Bowlers are being reduced to little more than machines. Green tops aren't necessary to employ an even contest. What is are loosening restrictions such as the wide rule and the bouncer limit. In this day, it is ridiculous that a ball shaving the leg stump is still called a wide. And let the bowlers have 3 bouncers in an over. Do whatever it takes to ensure batsmen don't have it all their own way. Why run over 10 yards repeatedly and deliver an offering that's only going to be dispatched by a bloke standing with a piece of wood? And the sheer number of fours and sixes means batsmen will rarely have to run again. All the great little skills and idiosyncrasies of the game are being eliminated in favour of a bash and crash approach. If I want that Brett, I'll watch pro-wrestling. There are some great things about cricket that must be protected. Scores of 450, 500 will ensure the standard of neither batting nor bowling improves in years to come...

Vas, it's not exactly the fault of the batsmen that ODI pitches are prepared the way they are though. And really, what chances are there now of a greentop being served up for the final game?? None. You suggest the greatest thrill in cricket is fast bowling. You also say you're a tradtionalist, but I'll just say you're a bowler ;-) But administrators will point to 3/401 and Tendulkar 200*, and tell you that that is the greatest thrill right there. Runs being scored at will, and boundaries being crossed and cleared, puts bums on seats; that's exactly the reason T20 is so popular. If anything, Tendulkar's knock might be the shot in the arm for the 50 over game!! Actually just on 3/401 - remember after the miracle of Jo'berg, Ponting and Graeme Smith both suggested at the time that 400 might start becoming a lot more common?? Well, I can't think of too many other 400+ innings totals since then, and until last night. But I wouldn't mind betting we see more between now and the World Cup final....

precisely MC, that why I say this knock should be celebrated for what it is: the first double hundred in ODI history...

btw - Parnell went for 95 off 10, poor Mickey Lewis, still sitting out there with 0-113 off his 10 at Jo'berg back in '06.

i felt this was a little sad because this is another step to 200 becoming a regularity. i'm definitely not detracting from the achievement, and especially not from the man who has persevered for 20 years to get there. yet every time there's a game like this, i break into a cold sweat and dread to what extent cricket will go to favour batsmen. call me traditionalist, but the greatest thrill of cricket is to see fast bowlers seaming and swinging past outside edges, and spinners whizzing it through batsmen's defences. cricket is at its healthiest when bowlers are given helpful conditions, yet good batsmen can work past that. ultimately, with cricket being the way it is, what lot of kids today would want to be bowlers? if you don't think the inflation of runs scored won't have a roll-on effect in years to come, we may be terribly mistaken...

yeah - but all the grounds are different dimensions even before ropes come into play, the fielding restrictions, the weather, the pitch, the opposition, the power play, the one or two white balls etc etc......not much has remained constant - - given that ODI's started off as 60 over affairs, in the early days...well, the early 80s, it was Viv Richards brilliant 189* v England (batting with the tail in a rear guard action to set an insurmountable task) that set standard....oh....but that was a smallish English ground......but why seek to detract from it?

The problem i have with this innings is the same problem i had with Matt Hayden pinching Mark Waugh's spot for highest ODI score by an Australian - the rules are different. How do you compare Saaed Anwar's 194 or Mark Waugh's 175 with 15 overs of fielding restrictions to this 200 with 20 overs of restrictions?