I heard that Saud Shakeel had set a record for reaching 20 in the most successive Test innings. What are the details? asked Zaigham Irfan from Pakistan
During the Test in Perth at the weekend, the Pakistan left-hander Saud Shakeel had his 14th and 15th innings in Tests since his first match in December 2022. All 15 innings so far have resulted in scores above 20, which is the best such run from debut: Everton Weekes, the great West Indian, started with 14 (one of which was exactly 20) before being out for 1 in the second innings against England at Old Trafford in 1950.
Shakeel is also in sight of the record for most double-figure scores in succession from debut. The 1950s Australian opener Colin McDonald reached ten in his first 16 Test innings before making 7 not out in his 17th (he then reached ten in his next six attempts before finally being dismissed in single figures, making 1 and 6 against England at Trent Bridge in 1956). An earlier Australian opener, Sid Barnes, also reached double figures in his first 15 Test innings, as did England's Geoff Pullar.
All four team totals in the Mirpur Test were between 100 and 199. How rare is this? asked Afzal Ahmadi from Bangladesh
The recent second Test between Bangladesh and New Zealand in Mirpur was a good reminder that low-scoring matches can be gripping. It provided only the 14th instance of a Test having four totals all in the hundreds (between 100 and 199). The previous instance came at The Oval last year, when England (158 and 130 for 1) beat South Africa (118 and 169) by nine wickets.
My first thought was that most of these would have been long-ago games, when pitches were less well prepared and batting generally less scientific - but actually there was only one case before 1950, in the match at Lord's in 1890 when England (173 and 137 for 3) beat Australia (132 and 176) by seven wickets.
Deepti Sharma took a five-for after making a fifty in the Test against England. How rare is this in the women's game? asked Samira Ghosh from India
Deepti Sharma scored 67 and then took 5 for 7 in India's crushing win in last week's Test against England in Mumbai. This was the 21st such instance in women's Tests, but Deepti was only the second Indian to do it, after Shubhangi Kulkarni (79 and 6 for 99) against New Zealand in Ahmedabad in 1984-85.
There have been eight instances in women's Tests of a player scoring a century and taking a five-for in the same match, three of them by Betty Wilson of Australia and three by England's Enid Bakewell.
Who played the most Tests without ever bettering the score he made on his debut? asked Andrew Banks from England
The record-holder here is Tim Southee of New Zealand, who hit 77 not out on his Test debut, against England in Napier in March 2008, and hasn't bettered that in 95 further matches so far, even though he has made five more half-centuries. Next comes England's Darren Gough, who hit 65 in his first Test, against New Zealand at Old Trafford in 1994, and never surpassed that in 57 further matches.
Romesh Kaluwitharana of Sri Lanka made 132 not out on his debut, against Australia in Colombo in August 1992, and never bettered that in 48 further Tests. The South African opener Andrew Hudson made 163 in his first match, against West Indies in Bridgetown in 1991-92, and did not beat that in 34 further appearances.
The equivalent record in ODIs is held by Abdul Qadir, who scored 41 not out on his debut for Pakistan, against New Zealand at Edgbaston during the 1983 World Cup, and did not improve on that in 103 further matches (67 innings).
What unique feat befell the South African wicketkeeper Tommy Ward on his Test debut? asked Kelly Robinson from Zimbabwe
The Indian-born keeper Tommy Ward had an eventful time in his first Test, for South Africa against Australia at Old Trafford during the Triangular Tournament of 1912. In his first innings, he entered at No. 11 with offspinner Jimmy Matthews on a hat-trick - and was lbw first ball.
South Africa had to follow-on, and later the same day Ward - surprisingly, perhaps, promoted to No. 9 - again came in with Matthews on a hat-trick. This time Ward chipped his first ball back to the bowler, who took a fine diving catch. According to EHD Sewell in his book Triangular Cricket, "The best wicket of the six was the sixth… He banged down a slightly shorter ball - in order to get the necessary 'rise' from the pitch - and he pitched it on or about the leg stump. Having been lbw the first innings, the batsman would be sure if the ball was straight to try to make bat and ball meet whatever else he did. Even then a catch had to be held! But it all came off, and that second hat must have been the last straw."
Matthews could celebrate becoming the first (and still only) bowler to take two hat-tricks in the same Test. Oddly, as Sewell colourfully put it, "his brace of hats [were] his only wickets" of the match. Ward, meanwhile, had started his Test career with a king pair, which also remains unique.
Ward played 22 more Tests, and did make 64 against England in Johannesburg in 1922-23. He died in 1936, at the young age of 48, after being electrocuted in an accident in a gold mine in Transvaal.
Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo's stats team helped with some of the above answers.
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