Sharing a birthday, and speedy wicketkeepers

I recently watched Marcus Trescothick and Alastair Cook batting together, and noticed they were both born on Christmas Day. I wondered what the biggest partnership was between two people who share the same birthday (not necessarily the same year)? I suppose the Waugh twins would have to be top, but who's next? asked Thomas Brown

The Waugh twins do indeed lead the way, with a partnership of 231 for Australia against West Indies at Kingston in 1994-95. The Waughs are second and third on this list, too, with stands of 197 and 190, both against England: they shared nine century partnerships in all. In fourth place is the first instance by unrelated players: a stand of 163 for West Indies at The Oval in 1939, in the last Test before the Second World War, between Victor Stollmeyer and Kenneth Weekes, who were both born on January 24. Trescothick and Cook (both born on December 25, as was Simon Jones) put on 127 against Sri Lanka at Lord's in May, and last April New Zealand's Marshall twins (born February 15) put on 107 against Sri Lanka at Napier. The final - and the first - hundred partnership in Tests by players born on the same day was in 1937, when Joe Hardstaff junior and Charles Barnett (both born on July 3) put on 104 for England against New Zealand at Lord's.

I heard that Geraint Jones recently became the fastest England wicketkeeper to reach 100 Test dismissals. Can this be true? asked "a Chris Read fan" from Nottingham

Yes, Geraint Jones reached the milestone of 100 wicketkeeping dismissals in the second innings of his 27th Test, against Sri Lanka at Lord's in May, and that was a record for an England player, beating the previous mark of 30, shared by Alan Knott and Bob Taylor. The overall record remains at 22 matches, by Australia's Adam Gilchrist: he beat Mark Boucher`s previous record by one match. Boucher's South African predecessor Dave Richardson took 24 matches to reach three figures, and the Australians Wally Grout and Rod Marsh 25. Like Jones, Ridley Jacobs took 27 Tests to post 100 dismissals.

Who has the distinction (?) of having the most pairs in Test cricket? asked Nishant Bharghava from the United States

Five men have had the dubious honour of being dismissed for a duck in each innings of a Test on four separate occasions. Four of them are bowlers with no pretensions to batting: Bhagwat Chandrasekhar of India, New Zealand's Chris Martin, and the West Indian pair of Merv Dillon and Courtney Walsh. But the fifth name is a surprising one - Sri Lanka's Marvan Atapattu, who has scored 5330 runs in his other 84 Tests. Atapattu didn't help himself with a horror start - his first three Tests brought him scores of 0 and 0, 0 and 1, and 0 and 0.

How many cricketers have their names on both the honours boards in the dressing-rooms for batting and bowling in a Test at Lord's? asked Graham Magee

Five cricketers have scored a century in a Test at Lord's and also taken five or more wickets in an innings there. The first was the former England captain Gubby Allen, in the 1930s; Vinoo Mankad of India joined him, with 184 and 5 for 196 in 1952. Australia's Keith Miller completed the double in 1956, while Ray Illingworth did it in the 1960s. The final allrounder is Ian Botham, who took no fewer than eight five-fors at Lord's to go with a century against Pakistan in 1978.

Sreesanth made his first run in ODIs during India's third match in the West Indies recently, which was his 16th match. Has anyone waited longer for their first run? asked Farhan Arain from Pakistan

Sreesanth's long wait for his first one-day run was indeed a record. The former West Indian fast bowler Patrick Patterson didn't trouble the scorers until his 14th one-day international, while one of Sreesanth's Indian predecessors, Venkatesh Prasad, didn't get onto the scoresheet until his 13th match.

In a recent India A one-day game the two opening bowlers - RP Singh and VRV Singh - both took five wickets. Has this ever happened in an official ODI? asked Rajat Mehta from India

The match you're talking about was played in Abu Dhabi on April 30: the two Singhs combined to bowl the United Arab Emirates out for 70. Rather surprisingly, there has only been one official ODI in which two bowlers from the same side took five wickets apiece. It was a long time ago, and only a true quiz expert would be likely to name the two bowlers concerned! It was the second ODI of Australia's tour of England in 1977, at Edgbaston. England were bowled out for 171, with the wickets being shared by those demon medium-pacers Greg Chappell (5 for 20) and Gary Cosier (5 for 18). There were more shocks in store: Australia were bowled out for 70.