Is Rubel Hossain's bowling average the worst of all time for players who have played at least 20 Tests? asked Shardul Rawat from India
After the first Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi, the Bangladesh seamer Rubel Hossain had taken 36 wickets in 27 Tests at an average of 76.77. Among bowlers with 20 or more wickets, that's the worst average apart from the England legspinner Ian Salisbury, whose 20 wickets cost 76.95. Rubel can thank his three late wickets in Pakistan's innings in Rawalpindi for edging him below the unfortunate Salisbury.
Your original qualification of 20 matches doesn't really work, as that includes a lot of people who bowled very occasionally, which I don't suppose is what you meant. Top by that reckoning is India's Sunil Gavaskar, who took 1 for 206 in his 125 Tests, for an average of 206.00.
How many Under-19 World Cups have there been? And who has won it most often? asked Siddique Khan from Bangladesh
There have now been 13 youth World Cups. The first one, in 1987-88, was a special event as part of Australia's bicentennial celebrations. There wasn't another such competition for another ten years, but it has been a regular feature of the calendar ever since.
India have won it four times, Australia three times and Pakistan twice, while England, South Africa and West Indies have lifted the trophy once each. They were joined at the weekend by Bangladesh, who won a tight (and occasionally fractious) final against India in Potchefstroom.
Here are the overall records from all 13 tournaments, including the interesting array of sides who have taken part over the years.
I was reading about the Australian bowler who took two hat-tricks in the same Test match. Has anyone ever taken two hat-tricks in the same innings in first-class cricket? asked Gordon James from England
There have been two instances of this. Albert Trott, who played Tests for both Australia and England, followed four wickets in four balls with a hat-trick shortly afterwards to end the match for Middlesex against Somerset at Lord's in 1907. Both feats came early on the third day of Trott's benefit match, depriving him of some income.
Trott's double hat-trick was not replicated until 1963-64, when the Indian medium-pacer Joginder Singh Rao, playing for Services, took two hat-tricks in Northern Punjab's second innings in Amritsar. It was only Rao's second first-class game - and he'd also taken a hat-trick in the first one!
There are six other instances of a bowler taking hat-tricks in both innings of the same first-class match, including one in a Test, as you mention: that was by the Australian legspinner Jimmy Matthews, against South Africa at Old Trafford in 1912. The most recent such double was also by an Australian Test player: Mitchell Starc ended both Western Australian innings with hat-tricks for New South Wales in Sydney in 2017-18.
Which bowler had the most economical ten-over spell on his ODI debut? asked Azweer Husain from India
This record was equalled recently, which might be why you're asking! The mark was set in May 2006, in Bermuda's inaugural one-day international, when their popular, portly left-arm spinner Dwayne Leverock had debut figures of 10-5-14-1 against Canada in Port-of-Spain. And it was equalled last week by another slow left-armer, Nepal's Sushan Bhari, with 10-1-14-3 against Oman in the World Cup League 2 match in Kirtipur.
The record for the Test-playing nations is 16 runs, which has happened three times: Andy Roberts had 12-5-16-2 on debut for West Indies against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford during the 1975 World Cup; Manoj Prabhakar 10-3-16-2 for India v Sri Lanka in Sharjah in 1983-84; and Vijay Bharadwaj 10-3-16-1 in his first match for India, against South Africa in Nairobi in 1999.
Xavier Marshall recently played an ODI ten years after his previous one. Was this a record? asked Bob Tellez from the USA
Xavier Marshall made his official one-day international debut for the United States of America in Windhoek last April (he had already played two T20 internationals for them). His reappearance came almost ten years after the last of his 30 white-ball games for West Indies, in June 2009 (he also played seven Test matches).
Marshall comes in fifth on the list of players with the longest gap between ODI appearances, which is headed by Jeff Wilson, who went almost 12 years between one-day caps for New Zealand, from 1992-93 to 2004-05. He had a good excuse, though: in the interim he forged a hugely successful career with the New Zealand rugby union All Blacks.
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