Doing a Strauss, and big age gaps

The regular Monday column in which our editor answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket:

Yousuf Youhana: the only other man to "do a Strauss" © Jewel Samad Enlarge

Has anyone else done an Andrew Strauss and scored their first Test and ODI centuries on the same ground - indeed, in his case, his home ground? asked Helen Moore from London

Apart from Andrew Strauss, only four people have scored their first Test and one-day international hundreds on the same ground: David Gower (both at The Oval), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (Bridgetown), Ramnaresh Sarwan (Dhaka), and Yousuf Youhana (Lahore). Of those only Youhana, who was born in Lahore, was on his home turf. And like Strauss, Youhana's centuries came in his first Test and first ODI on the ground.

When Hong Kong played Pakistan in the Asia Cup their side included Nadeem Ahmed, who was born on Sept 28, 1987, and Rahul Sharma (Sept 14, 1960). That's an age difference of 27 years and 14 days - is that a record for a one-day international, or a Test? asked Anand Vasu from Mumbai

It actually comes in second: during the 1996 World Cup Holland's side in all five matches included Nolan Clarke (born June 22, 1948) and Bas Zuiderent (March 3, 1977). That's a difference of 28 years and about eight months. Next comes the Hong Kong side you mention, and then Zimbabwe played eight matches in 1992 and 1993 with a side that included John Traicos (May 17, 1947), who was more than 25 years older than Alistair Campbell (Sept 23, 1972). The record for a Test match was set by England in West Indies in 1929-30, when their side in all four Tests included Wilfred Rhodes (born Oct 29, 1877) and Bill Voce (Aug 8, 1909), a difference of almost 32 years. Rhodes made his Test debut over a decade before Voce was born.

I was wondering which player batted most often in Tests before he was dismissed? I think it used to be Frank Cameron, the 1960s New Zealand fast bowler, but maybe it's someone else now? asked Gary Fraser from Dunedin

Frank Cameron, who finished his Test career with 20 not-outs in 30 innings, is one of four players who managed five undefeated innings before they were finally dismissed in Tests. The others are the old South African allrounder Jimmy Blanckenberg, Alan Connolly, the Australian fast bowler of the 1960s, and the recent South African bowler David Terbrugge. But the winner, with six not-outs before he was dismissed, is Jimmy Anderson of England. Before the second Test against West Indies at Edgbaston, Anderson had remained undefeated in 10 of his 12 Test innings.

Is there any player who has taken 100 wickets against a single country in one-day internationals? If not, then who has taken the most? asked Orlando Coelho from Mumbai

No-one has quite reached 100 against a particular country. Unsurprisingly, I suppose, the record-holder is one-day cricket's overall leading wicket-taker, Wasim Akram of Pakistan. He took 92 wickets against Sri Lanka, and 89 against West Indies. Waqar Younis, still second to Wasim on the overall list, is second to him here as well: he took 84 wickets against Sri Lanka, and 79 against New Zealand. Next comes Muttiah Muralitharan, who currently has 77 wickets against Pakistan.

With Warne and Murali tied at the top of the most-wickets list, I was wondering which of them had dismissed the most different batsmen? asked Stan Randall of Shepherds Bush

Murali leads the way here, as he has dismissed 219 different batsmen in Tests. Shane Warne is a little way behind, with 183. I suppose this may reflect the fact that Warne has played a lot of fiveand six-Test series, coming up against the same batsmen, whereas Murali rarely plays more than three Tests against anyone at one go. Wasim Akram (205) is the only other man to have dismissed more than 200 different batsmen, while Courtney Walsh (195), Anil Kumble (193) and Waqar Younis (188 out of a total of 373) are all ahead of Warne on this particular list. In terms of percentages, for those who took more than 100 Test wickets the highest is by New Zealand's Ewen Chatfield, with 81 different batsmen among his 123 wickets (65.85%), while the lowest is by Hugh Trumble of Australia, whose 141 wickets included only 42 different batsmen (29.79%).

Younis Khan made his first century in his 103rd one-day international for Pakistan - is this a record? from Usmaan Khan from Vancouver in Canada

It isn't, by a surprisingly long way. It turns out that Steve Waugh's first one-day hundred didn't come until his 187th match, for Australia against Sri Lanka at Melbourne in 1995-96. Arjuna Ranatunga didn't make his maiden ODI ton for Sri Lanka until his 153rd match, then come Abdul Razzaq of Pakistan (116), Sunil Gavaskar (107 - he only played 108), and John Wright (105). Ken Rutherford, who like Younis Khan scored his first ODI hundred in his 103rd match, is the only other player above 100.

Steven Lynch is editor of Wisden Cricinfo. For some of these answers he was helped by Travis Basevi, the man who built Stats Guru and the Wisden Wizard. If you want to Ask Steven a question, e-mail him at asksteven@cricinfo.com. The most interesting questions will be answered each week in this column. Unfortunately, we can't usually enter into correspondence about individual queries.