All-round openers, and the oldest to make an ODI hundred

Geoff Boycott gets going on the 1979-80 Australian tour. He even made a one-day century at the ripe old age of 39 © Getty Images Enlarge

I heard recently that Ramnath Parkar and Sunil Gavaskar opened the batting together for their club (Dadar Union), state (Bombay) and country (India). Has any other opening pair managed this? asked Sid Barrington

I suspect the only other pair to do this were the Australians Colin McDonald and George Thoms, who opened together in the final Test against West Indies in Sydney in 1951-52. That same season they also opened for Melbourne's University club and for Victoria. Something similar, on a slightly less grand scale, was achieved by England's Andrew Strauss and Sir Leonard Hutton's grandson Ben Hutton: they opened together for school (Radley College), university (Durham) and county (Middlesex).

Sanath Jayasuriya scored a one-day century against Bangladesh last week on his 39th birthday. Who is the oldest player to score an ODI century? asked Saras from India

In scoring 130 against Bangladesh at Karachi last week Sanath Jayasuriya became the second-oldest player to score a century in a one-day international, pushing Sunil Gavaskar (38 years, 113 days old when he made 103 not out for India against New Zealand in Nagpur in the 1987-88 World Cup) down into third place. Jayasuriya also made another century against India six days later, but for the time being the oldest man to score an ODI hundred remains England's Geoff Boycott, who made 105 against Australia in Sydney in 1979-80, when he was 39 years and 51 days old. For a full list, click here.

With all the current fuss about Zimbabwe I was wondering who scored their most recent centuries in Tests and ODIs? asked Bill Taylor from Bristol

The last of Zimbabwe's 42 Test centuries - 18 of which were contributed by the Flower brothers, Andy (12) and Grant (6) - was made by Tatenda Taibu, who scored 153 against Bangladesh in Dhaka in January 2005. The most recent of Zimbabwe's 34 ODI hundreds was also scored by Taibu, with 107 not out against South Africa in Harare in August 2007.

How many bowlers have taken a wicket with their very first ball in a Test? I remember Nilesh Kulkarni doing it... asked Minesh from India

The Indian spinner Nilesh Kulkarni was the 12th of 13 bowlers to do this. His first-ball wicket came on his debut against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 1997-98, but he finished that innings with 1 for 176 as Sri Lanka ran up the Test-record total of 952 for 6. The most recent instance of a bowler taking a wicket with his first ball in a Test was by Sri Lanka's Chamila Gamage Lakshitha against Bangladesh in Colombo in 2002. For a full list, click here.

Who has scored the most ODI hundreds in one year? asked Rajesh Khanna from Mumbai

The clear leader here is Sachin Tendulkar, who hit nine one-day hundreds in 1998, when his overall aggregate of 1894 runs in ODIs was another record. In second place is another Indian, Sourav Ganguly, with seven hundreds in 2000. For a full list, click here.

And there's an update on the recent question about cricketer-golfers, from Tony Philipson

"Approximately 50 years ago I caddied for Brian Close at Ganton during the Scarborough cricket festival. He played right-handed in the morning and left-handed in the afternoon. As I recall, his handicaps were two and three."