Tendulkar's mileage, and the woman who beat him

	Belinda Clark got a double in ODIs in 1997 Photosport / © ESPNcricinfo Ltd Enlarge
Related Links Ask Steven : Last week's column: Amla's feats, and innings defeats

How many miles or kilometres has Sachin Tendulkar run between the wickets in his international career? asked Sundar from India
After his amazing double-century onslaught in Gwalior - and how appropriate it was that he was the first man to reach the 200 barrier in a format where he heads the run-scoring lists by such a long way - Sachin Tendulkar had scored 31,055 runs in international cricket (13,447 in Tests, 17,598 in ODIs, and 10 in Twenty20 internationals). Of those, 16,140 have come in boundaries (3675 fours and 240 sixes), so he has had to run 14,915 of his own runs in singles, twos and threes, which adds up to 328,130 yards or over 186 miles (300 kilometres). He will also have covered a similar distance for his partners while non-striker - not quite so many runs, perhaps, but a significant number nonetheless. If we allow his batting partners 75% of Tendulkar's output, that's another 12,105 runs, or 266,310 yards, or 151 miles (243km). That makes a total of around 337 miles (543km). There will also have been many byes and leg-byes, lots of runs completed before the ball crossed the boundary line - and even partial runs during run-outs, so it's impossible to calculate it any more exactly!

Was Tendulkar's score the highest in any senior limited-overs match (not just a one-day international? asked Surinder Nayyar from Ahmedabad
Sachin Tendulkar's 200 not out in Gwalior was actually the 10th double-century in senior limited-overs cricket (now usually called "List A" matches). Two of them have been scored by Alistair Brown, the electric Surrey (now Nottinghamshire) batsman who had a surprisingly short England career of just 16 ODIs. Those included the highest List A score yet recorded: an astonishing 268 - from 160 balls, with 30 fours and 12 sixes - in Surrey's C&G Trophy match against Glamorgan at The Oval in June 2002.

Sachin "Two-Tondulkar" faced 147 deliveries during his record-breaking innings. Was this the highest number of balls faced by a batsman in a 50-over one-day international? asked Rahul Bagree from India
In early one-day internationals innings were usually limited to a maximum of 60 overs (and often 55 in England), so it's not surprising that, overall, the six longest individual innings in ODIs come from those days: the leader is New Zealand's Glenn Turner, whose 171 not out against East Africa at Edgbaston during the first World Cup in 1975 occupied 201 balls. Another Turner innings from that World Cup - his 177-ball 114 not out against India at Old Trafford - lies second on this list. The longest individual innings in any 50-over ODI was one of 172 balls, by Canada's Ashish Bagai, who made 137 not out against Scotland in Nairobi in 2006-07. The longest in a match between two Test-playing nations was 168 balls, by David Boon, during his 102 not out for Australia against New Zealand in Hobart in 1991-92. For the full list of the longest individual ODI innings (irrespective of over limit), click here.

Sachin Tendulkar was the first man to score a double-century in a one-day international, but my sister insists that a woman achieved this feat first, more than a decade ago. Is she right? asked Keith D'Souza
Hats off to your sister, as she remembered that Australia's Belinda Clark hammered 229 not out against Denmark in Mumbai during the 1997-98 women's World Cup. It was a bit of a mismatch: after scoring 412 for 3 in their 50 overs, the Aussies bowled Denmark out for 49

Was Hashim Amla's 253 not out the highest score by a visiting batsman in a Test in India? asked Jim Brandon from London
Not quite. Hashim Amla's 253 not out in Nagpur in February was the fourth-highest score by a visiting batsman in a Test in India. Mahela Jayawardene made 275 for Sri Lanka in Ahmedabad in November 2009. Younis Khan scored 267 for Pakistan in Bangalore in 2004-05, and Rohan Kanhai hit 256 for West Indies in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1958-59. In all, 13 touring batsmen have made double-centuries in Tests in India.

Ajmal Shahzad took two wickets in his very first over during his debut for England against Pakistan recently. Was this a first for international cricket? asked Ujan from Bangladesh
Yorkshire's Ajmal Shahzad did indeed take two wickets in his first over of international cricket - he had Imran Nazir and Imran Farhat caught off his third and fifth deliveries during the Twenty20 international against Pakistan in Dubai last month. I believe that the only other person to strike twice in his first over of international cricket was England's Richard Johnson, who dismissed Mark Vermeulen and Stuart Carlisle with the third and fourth balls of his first over in Tests, against Zimbabwe in Chester-le-Street in 2003. One of Shahzad's team-mates in Dubai, Graeme Swann, is the only other player to take two wickets in his first over in Test cricket, but he had already played in one-day internationals.

And there's an addition to last week's question about unusual contributors to cricket books, from Chris Johnson:
"I'd have thought the strangest writer(s) of a foreword in any cricket book appeared last year, in Matthew Hoggard's zany autobiography Welcome to my World, when the introductory item - renamed a 'paw-word' for obvious reasons - was supposedly contributed by Hoggy's dogs Billy the Doberman and Molly the border collie."