Dhoni's unusual double, and Ronchi's rare feat

Mahendra Singh Dhoni scored two fifties and took seven catches in the Wellington Test. Is he the first player to achieve this feat? asked Jude Franco from India

As it turns out, MS Dhoni is only the second man to achieve this particular all-round feat in a Test, scoring 52 and 56 not out and taking seven catches in the final match of the recent series against New Zealand in Wellington. The only other man to do it was South Africa's Denis Lindsay, who scored 69 and 182 and took eight catches against Australia in Johannesburg in 1966-67, to kickstart an amazing series in which he scored 606 runs and took 24 catches. Widening the net a little, there have been seven further occasions in which a player has scored 100 runs (but not necessarily two half-centuries) and taken seven catches in a Test, including a further instance by Lindsay (in 1969-70), and one by a fieldsman other than a wicketkeeper - Matthew Hayden with 41, 130 and seven catches against Sri Lanka in Galle in 2003-04. The others to achieve it include two Sri Lankans, Amal Silva and Chamara Dunusinghe, and Mark Boucher, Jeff Dujon and Ian Healy.

Luke Ronchi, the Australian wicketkeeper, took a catch off the first ball of the innings in his debut one-day international, against West Indies. Has any other wicketkeeper done this to the first ball of their first ODI? asked Elumaran Perumal from the United States

Luke Ronchi did indeed achieve this, in his first one-day international in Grenada last June, catching Xavier Marshall off the first ball of West Indies' innings. The only other person I'm aware of who has managed it (the records are not entirely complete) is Lee Germon of New Zealand, who caught Sri Lanka's Roshan Mahanama off the first ball of his debut match, in the Mandela Trophy in Bloemfontein in 1994-95. (Later note: Germon actually took his catch off the second delivery - the first one was a wide.)

Graham Gooch started his Test career with a pair. How many other players began in such a manner? asked Michael Springer from Australia

Graham Gooch, playing for England against Australia at Edgbaston in 1975, was the 17th player to bag a pair in his debut Test (but the first since India's GS Ramchand in 1952), and there have been 20 more since. None of the other 36 have come terribly close to Gooch's eventual total of 8900 Test runs, the nearest being Sri Lanka's Marvan Atapattu, who made 5502 runs after bagging a pair on debut (and only one run in his first six innings) against India in Chandigarh in 1990-91.

What is the lowest Test total to feature all 11 batsmen in double figures (in theory it could be as low as 110, but my guess is that it is around 300)? asked Mark Kidger from Spain

Your guess is not too far out - there have been, appropriately enough, 11 instances of all 11 batsmen in a Test innings reaching double figures (for a list, click here), and the lowest of those was South Africa's 358 against Australia in Melbourne in 1931-32. India are a close second with 359 against New Zealand in Dunedin in 1967-68.

What is the highest score by a losing team in the fourth innings of a Test match? asked J Jayaraman from India

The highest fourth-innings total by a team which ended up losing is 451, by New Zealand against England in Christchurch in 2001-02. They were chasing 550 to win and seemed to be heading for a much heavier defeat before Nathan Astle slammed 222 from only 168 balls. New Zealand are also third and fourth on this list, with totals of 440 (against England at Trent Bridge in 1973) and 431 (against England once again, in Napier in 2007-08). In second place lie India, with 445 (chasing 493) against Australia in Adelaide in 1977-78. For a full list of the highest fourth-innings totals in Tests, click here.

Who currently has the record for the most centuries in Twenty20 cricket? Is it Ian Harvey? asked Ryan from New Zealand

You've answered your own question correctly: Ian Harvey does indeed lead the way, with three Twenty20 hundreds - two for Yorkshire and one (the first in all Twenty20 cricket) for Gloucestershire in 2003. Three others players have two Twenty20 tons to their name: Graeme Hick, Andrew Symonds and Cameron White.