Clarke's great start, and the shortest Test

Is Michael Clarke's 151 the highest score on debut for Australia? asked Belinda Richardson from Melbourne

Actually there have been five higher scores on debut for Australia than Clarke's magnificent 151 at Bangalore. The highest actually came in the very first Test of all, when Charles Bannerman made 165 not out against England at Melbourne in 1876-77. Four men have come closer to Bannerman without quite beating him: Archie Jackson, with 164 against England at Adelaide in 1928-29, Kepler Wessels with 162 against England at Brisbane in 1982-83, Wayne Phillips with 159 against Pakistan at Perth in 1983-84, and Doug Walters, with 155 against England at Brisbane in 1965-66. Interestingly Clarke is the 17th Australian to score a century on Test debut, but only the third to do so away from home, following Harry Graham at Lord's in 1893, and Dirk Wellham at The Oval in 1981. For a full list of players who scored centuries on Test debut, click here.

What is the shortest completed Test match? asked Richard Ellison from Windermere

The shortest Test, in terms of balls bowled, that had a definite result came in the final Test of the 1931-32 series at Melbourne, when Australia (153) beat South Africa (36 and 45) by an innings and 72 runs. That match lasted only 656 balls, just edging out West Indies v England at Bridgetown in 1934-35, which lasted 16 balls longer. The shortest Test in which there was any play at all was the abandoned West Indies-England Test at Kingston in 1997-98, which was called after 61 balls, during which time England limped to 17 for 3.

I noticed that Michael Holding bowled nine batsmen while taking 16 wickets against England in 1976. Is there any instance of a bowler getting more wickets by the same mode of dismissal? asked John Moriarty from Narara, Australia

Holding's nine bowleds in the 1976 Oval Test was a record for the 20th century. There were two superior performances at the end of the previous century, though, when batting techniques were somewhat looser: at Cape Town in 1888-89 England's Johnny Briggs bowled 14 South African batsmen, while at Port Elizabeth in 1895-96 George Lohmann bowled 12 Springboks. Later the same year Tom Richardson bowled nine Australians at Lord's. The record for a dismissal involving another player is eight, being Indians caught behind by Bob Taylor off Ian Botham in the Golden Jubilee Test at Bombay in 1979-80.

What is the lowest total to be successfully defended in a one-day international? asked Saad Shafqat from Karachi

The lowest first-innings total to win an ODI was Pakistan's 87 for 9 against India at Gujranwala in 1989-90 - India were bowled out for 80. Mind you, that game had been reduced to 16 overs a side after bad weather delayed the start. Next on the list was another rain-shortened match, of 30 overs, at Sydney in 1992-93, when Australia scored 101 for 9 but then bowled West Indies out for 87. There have only been 13 other occasions when a first-innings total of less than 150 has been sufficient to force a win.

Which batsman has scored most Test runs without scoring a century? My guesses are Shane Warne, Chetan Chauhan and probably Malcolm Marshall ... asked Deepanjan Datta from Texas

Those aren't bad guesses, as they include three of the seven batsmen who have made more than 1500 Test runs without the aid of a century. Shane Warne does indeed top the list, with 2326 runs before the recent series in India started (his highest score remains 99), ahead of India's Chetan Chauhan (2084), Deryck Murray of West Indies (1993), Sri Lanka's Chaminda Vaas (1963), Malcolm Marshall of West Indies (1810), England's John Emburey (1713) and the Australian Ken "Slasher" Mackay (1507).

In the Champions Trophy semi-final, Pakistan made 131, and West Indies overhauled their total with 131 balls to spare - is it the first time this has happened? asked Rajesh from Acton

That's a complicated one, and my initial thought was that it couldn't have happened before - but "never" is a dangerous word to use in cricket. Actually it had occurred twice previously: in the 1999 World Cup, when Australia scored 181 to beat Bangladesh at at Chester-le-Street with 181 balls remaining, and at Dhaka in 2003-04, when Bangladesh scored 134 and England coasted past them with 134 balls to spare.