Who was the first (male) player to score a double century in an international one-day match? Given the recent media coverage, you'd be forgiven for answering Sachin Tendulkar, who scored 200 not out for India against South Africa in Wednesday's second ODI.

But we're not just talking full ODIs here, we're talking all international one-day matches. Since 1997, five players have scored a double century in an international one-day match. In this article, I take a look at each of them.

The first to achieve the feat - and the only one not to do it for an Asian team - was Shamazuddin Khan, who scored 200 not out for Germany against hosts Switzerland in the 1997 European Nations Cup. The innings was part of a German total of 467-1, with Khan sharing in an unbroken second wicket partnership of 349 with Abdul Salim Bhatti, who scored 174 himself. Khan would go on to play a total of 18 times for Germany, including the 2001 ICC Trophy in Canada.

The next one came the following year, during the ACC Trophy in Nepal. The 40 year old Dubai born UAE captain Saeed-al-Saffar, who played one ODI during the 1996 World Cup, scored an unbeaten 209 from 136 balls against Thailand. The innings featured 10 fours and 15 sixes. He also showed his all-round ability, taking 4-11 to help his side to a 292 run win. No prizes for guessing who took home the man of the match award!

We then had a four year break before the next occurrence. This came during the 2002 ACC Trophy in Singapore when Alex French hit 203 not out from 158 balls for his native Hong Kong against the Maldives. His innings featured just the one six, and he ran 113 of his runs. French went on to play two ODIs for Hong Kong during the 2004 Asia Cup.

On the losing side that day was the Maldives captain Moosa Kaleem, and he was obviously inspired by Alex French, as he was the next player to pass the double century mark, scoring 217 against Brunei during the ACC Emerging Nations Tournament in Thailand in 2005.

Brunei were also on the receiving end of the fifth double century. This came during the first match of the 2006 ACC Trophy in Kuala Lumpur. The tournament saw more than its fair share of mismatches, and it was the catalyst for the split into divisions for the ACC Trophy tournaments from 2008 onwards. On the first day, UAE captain Arshad Ali smashed an unbeaten 213 from 146 balls against the hapless Brunei team, contributing to a huge 367 run win.

Also worthy of mention is Paul Hollis, who hit 223 not out from just 129 balls for Chile during the 2002 South American Championships. But as that game was against the Andean Masters, it doesn't count as an international.

It isn't the only mark that the non-test game has beaten full ODIs in. In 2008, Mahaboob Alam took all ten wickets for Nepal against Mozambique during WCL Division Five in Jersey, whilst Papua New Guinea passed the 500 team score barrier when they scored 572 against New Caledonia during the 2007 South Pacific Games in Samoa.

None of this should discredit Tendulkar's achievement of course, and I'm sure the five players mentioned above are more than delighted to have one of the greats of the game join their exclusive club!

Many thanks to Roy Morgan for providing the list of double centurions.

DISCLAIMER

It has been brought to my attention that some people think that I'm comparing these performances to the fantastic performance that was Tendulkar's innings was on Wednesday. Just to make it abundantly clear for those who don't wish to take the article in the tone which it was intended to be taken in - I'm not. Tendulkar's performance is quite obviously far superior to those above. Except maybe the innings by Paul Hollis.