Jacob Bethell batted at No. 3 for England on his Test debut in New Zealand. When was the last time England had a debutant No. 3 who had not scored a first-class century? asked Nick Stephens from England
The 21-year-old Warwickshire left-hander Jacob Bethell made his Test debut at No. 3 against New Zealand in Christchurch last week - and hit the winning run as England won by eight wickets.
Bethell was the first specialist batter to play a Test for England before scoring a first-class hundred since Mike Gatting in Pakistan in 1977-78. But Gatting (who eventually scored 94 first-class tons) went in at No. 5 then. It's quite rare for an England debutant to bat at No. 3: as far as I can see, England have never before selected someone without a first-class century to his name to bat at No. 3 in their first Test. The use of nightwatchers means that occasionally the person who actually went in at No. 3 did not have a three-figure score at the time - fairly recent examples of this are Ian Salisbury in 1992 and Neil Williams (who never did reach three figures) in 1990 - but no specialists.
For the full list of England debutants who batted at No. 3, click here. Several of them went in as nightwatchers, so were not selected to bat there.
India won the Perth Test by 295 runs. Was that their biggest win away from home? asked Ricky Dooley from Scotland
India's win in the first Test against Australia in Perth last month was their third-biggest by runs away from home: they beat West Indies by 318 runs in Antigua in August 2019, and walloped Sri Lanka by 304 in Galle in July 2017. Their previous biggest win in Australia was by 222 runs in Melbourne in 1977-78.
India have also had 12 innings victories away from home, the biggest by an innings and 239 runs over Bangladesh in Mirpur in May 2007, while they beat Sri Lanka by an innings and 171 in Pallekele in August 2017. They have also won three away Tests by ten wickets.
Kraigg Brathwaite played his 86th successive Test in Antigua. I think I heard that this was a record - who did he beat? asked Misha McKenzie from Barbados
The Barbadian opener Kraigg Brathwaite has been ever-present in the West Indies team since June 2014, and the second Test against Bangladesh in Kingston was his 86th in a row (he had played a few before this run started, so now has 96 in all). The record he broke was the most consecutive Tests for West Indies without missing one, previously held by an even more distinguished Barbadian, Garry Sobers, who did not miss any of their 85 Tests between April 1955 and April 1972. Desmond Haynes played 72 successive Tests for West Indies, and Brian Lara 64.
Brathwaite has a long way to go to match the overall record: Alastair Cook played 159 successive Tests for England between May 2006 and his international retirement in September 2018. Five other men have played 100 or more consecutive Tests.
Opening is considered to be the most difficult batting position, and having an average above 50 for a Test opener is rare. Who are the top openers from a minimum of 50 Tests? asked Nikhil Dugar from India
You're right that it's a difficult place to bat: only 28 men who opened in at least 50 Tests have an average of 40 or more when doing so. Top of the list is the England opener of the inter-war years, Herbert Sutcliffe, who averaged 61.10 from 54 matches. He's ahead of two other England greats, Len Hutton (56.47) and Jack Hobbs (56.37). Of those who played in the current century the leader is Australia's Matthew Hayden (50.73). Sunil Gavaskar and Virender Sehwag of India both also averaged over 50.
I thought 50 Tests was rather a lot, so tried lowering the qualification to 20. Sutcliffe stays top on that list, but the obdurate South African Bruce Mitchell (56.90) pushes Hutton and Hobbs down a place. And the leading "modern" becomes Australia's Usman Khawaja, who averaged 52.25 from 34 matches as opener before the second Test against India.
Ivory Coast were bowled out for only seven by Nigeria in their T20 international the other day. Was this the lowest completed team total in any international? asked Madhav Gokhale from New Zealand
Ivory Coast made a reasonable start to their reply to Nigeria's 271 in their recent match in Abuja - they had four runs on the board before the first wicket went down, but the rest managed only three between them. There were six ducks (and a 0 not out) in the final total of 7, which is a new low for men's T20Is: there had previously been two cases of 10 all out, by Mongolia against Singapore two months previously, and the Isle of Man vs Spain in February 2023. The lowest by a Test-playing nation is West Indies' 45 against England in St Kitts in March 2019.
This was not, however, the lowest score in all international cricket. In women's T20Is, Mali were skittled for 6 by Rwanda in Kigali in June 2019, and six months later Maldives matched that with 6 all out against Bangladesh during the South Asian Games in Pokhara (Nepal). As this list shows, Maldives were bowled out two days later for 8 by Nepal, while the Philippines were skittled for 9 by Thailand in Phnom Penh (Cambodia) in May 2023.
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