Has anyone taken more than Bob Willis' 325 wickets without a ten-for?

I noticed that Bob Willis, who has sadly passed away, took 325 Test wickets without ever taking ten in a match. Has anyone taken more than that? asked Juan Castro from Argentina
The much missed Bob Willis is indeed top of this particular list. His best match figures in Tests were 9 for 92, against New Zealand at Headingley in 1983. At Headingley in 1981, when he pulled off that sensational 8 for 43 in the second innings to complete the come-from-behind win against Australia, he'd managed only 0 for 72 in the first.

Two other bowlers have taken 300 Test wickets without ever recording a ten-for: Brett Lee collected 310 and Morne Morkel 309. Jacques Kallis was not far short with 292. Nine others reached 200 without ever taking ten in a match.

In Adelaide, Muhammad Musa remained unbeaten in both innings of his first Test. How many others have done this? asked Siddharth Gupte from India
The 19-year-old Pakistan seamer Muhammad Musa, who made 12 not out and 4 not out against Australia in Adelaide last week, was actually the 67th player to remain not out in both innings of his first Test, as this list shows. The 66th was Senuran Muthusamy, for South Africa against India in Visakhapatnam a few weeks earlier.

The most runs scored while achieving this is 178, by another Pakistani, Azhar Mahmood, who marked his debut, against South Africa in Rawalpindi in 1997-98, with unbeaten innings of 128 and 50. Jackie Grant of West Indies (against Australia in Adelaide in 1930-31) and Australia's Albert Trott (v England in Adelaide in 1894-95) both scored more than 100 runs on debut in two undefeated innings. At the other end of the scale, 11 men started with a pair of 0 not outs.

Apparently Steven Smith became the fastest to 7000 Test runs at Adelaide. Whose record did he beat? asked Matthew Clarke from England
Steven Smith breezed past 7000 Test runs against Pakistan in Adelaide last week, during his 126th innings, in his 70th Test. Both figures are records. England's Wally Hammond reached 7000 in 131 innings, although that came in his 80th Test. Virender Sehwag and Garry Sobers got there one match quicker, in 79, although it took them more innings.

It's probably worth reminding everyone that Don Bradman fell a boundary short of 7000 runs, his 6996 runs coming in 80 innings (46 fewer than Smith), and 52 matches.

Last week's column mentioned HM Thurlow, who did not score a run, take a wicket or make a catch in his only Test match. Was this unique? asked Ibrahim Kamara from Malaysia
The Queensland fast bowler "Pud" Thurlow, whose most memorable contribution to his one and only Test match, against South Africa in Adelaide in 1931-32, was getting run out to leave Don Bradman stranded on 299, was by no means the only man to make no impression on the scorecard in his solitary appearance.

Rather surprisingly, perhaps, in all, there have been 20 men who failed to score a run, take a wicket or make a catch or stumping in their only Test match. The first name on the list, Emile McMaster of England in 1888-89, was playing what turned out to be his only first-class match.

The two most recent occurrences were both in 1999: in March, Lincoln Roberts from Tobago made one unproductive appearance for West Indies, against Australia in Kingston, while in November Gavin Hamilton - called up by England after a productive World Cup for Scotland - failed to trouble the scorers against South Africa in Johannesburg. Not long before that, in 1997-98, seamer Paul Wilson - now a Test umpire - made one appearance for Australia, against India in Kolkata.

Has anyone been captain on their Test debut, apart obviously from a team's own first match? asked Kashif Latif from Pakistan
This has happened 22 times in all now (list includes those who captained in a country's inaugural Test). It was quite a frequent occurrence in the early days of Test cricket, when teams were often not chosen by a central selection committee but by representatives connected to the ground where the match was being played. In West Indies' first home series in 1929-30, for example, the captain in each of the four Tests was chosen from the island staging the game - and two of them had not played a Test before.

Since the Second World War there have been only four instances of a player captaining in his first Test. Two of them date from the days when a suitable amateur might be plucked from county cricket to captain England on tour: Middlesex's George Mann skippered on his debut, against South Africa in Durban in 1948-49, as did Lancashire's Nigel Howard, against India in Delhi in 1951-52.

Tony Lewis of Glamorgan captained England on his Test debut, against India, also in Delhi, in 1972-73, while most recently Lee Germon took charge of New Zealand in his first Test, against India in Bangalore in 1995-96.