In the first Ashes Test there were 11 players who had taken at least one five-for in their career - six from England and five from Australia. Is this the most for any Test match? asked Jatin Patra via Facebook
Rather surprisingly, perhaps, there have been several instances of 11 players going into a Test having taken five wickets in an innings at least once: the exciting first Ashes Test at Edgbaston was the 21st such occasion. The record is actually 12 players, which has happened twice: by Australia and England in Adelaide in 1974-75, and England and West Indies at Old Trafford in 2020.
Usman Khawaja batted on each day of the first Test. How rare is this? asked Tim McClelland from England
Usman Khawaja's award-winning effort in the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston was the 13th occasion that a man had batted on each day of a five-day Test. He was the third to do it this year: both West Indian openers, Kraigg Brathwaite and Tagenarine Chanderpaul, batted on all five days against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo in February.
The first to achieve the feat was the talented Indian ML Jaisimha, against Australia in Calcutta in 1959-60. It should be borne in mind that many Tests, especially before the Second World War, were scheduled for fewer than five days.
How many women have been out for 99 in a Test, as Ellyse Perry was last week? asked Lesley Robertson from Australia
Ellyse Perry, who fell for 99 in the Ashes Test at Trent Bridge last week, was only the fourth woman to be dismissed one short of a century in a Test match. The previous instance was by her current team-mate, Jess Jonassen, against England in Canterbury in 2015. That was Jonassen's debut; she hasn't yet reached three figures in a Test.
The first to fall for 99 in a women's Test was England's Betty Snowball, against Australia at The Oval in 1937, and it also happened to Australia's captain Jill Kennare against India in Bombay in 1983-84.
There have been five 99s (and a 99 not out) in women's ODIs, but none yet in T20Is.
Bangladesh beat Afghanistan by 546 runs recently - was this a Test record? asked Mehdi Hossain from Bangladesh
Bangladesh's thrashing of Afghanistan in Mirpur last week was actually the third-heaviest defeat by runs in any Test. Biggest of all was England's 675-run win against Australia in Brisbane in 1928-29 (Don Bradman's Test debut, as it happens). Australia returned the favour by crushing England by 562 runs at The Oval in 1934 (Bradman scored 244, and Bill Ponsford 266 in his final Test).
The heaviest Test defeat of any kind came at The Oval in 1938, when England beat Australia by an innings and 579 runs - Bradman was injured and unable to bat (England's captain declared at 903 for 7, but it's said he might have carried on had the Don been fit). Australia beat South Africa by an innings and 360 runs in Johannesburg in 2001-02. Here's the list of the biggest innings victories .
At the end of the second day of Bangladesh's Test against Afghanistan, both batters had the same score (54, from 64 balls). How often has this happened? asked Badri Meden from India
There are many instances of the two not-out batters having the same score at the of a day's play in a Test, including lots of 0s, but only 12 times had they both scored 50 or more. The highest identical overnight score is 85 not out, by the Indian pair of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir at the end of the third day against South Africa in Kanpur in 2004-05. Gary Kirsten and Jacques Kallis both had 80 not out at the end of the second day of South Africa's Test against England in Cape Town in 1999-2000.
Madhav Apte and Vijay Hazare of India were both undefeated with 63 at the end of the second day against West Indies in Bridgetown in 1952-53, and Brian Chari and Craig Ervine of Zimbabwe both had 60 at the second-day close against Sri Lanka in Harare in 2016-17. There was another case of this earlier this year, in February in the Bulawayo match mentioned in the second question above, when the West Indies openers Kraigg Brathwaite and Tagenarine Chanderpaul both had 55 at the end of the first day against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo.
None of the other 50-plus instances involve the same number of balls, as in Mirpur recently, where both Zakir Hasan and Najmul Hossain had faced 64. In the Bulawayo match earlier this year, for example, Chanderpaul had faced 170 balls and Brathwaite 138.
By chance I received a similar question from another correspondent, who was adamant the answer was the 63 of Apte and Hazare. The table he produced in support, which he apparently found somewhere online, was missing three of the top four instances (and five of the 12 overall), and so wasn't very reliable at all! Beware of Ask Steven imitators…
Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo's stats team helped with some of the above answers.
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