Women with 100 caps, and a man with 99

Two Australian women recently played in their 100th one-day international. How many others have done this? asked Rae Clarke from Sydney

The two you're talking about were Cathryn Fitzpatrick and Karen Rolton, who both won their 100th one-day caps in the first match of the recent Rose Bowl series against New Zealand at the Albion ground in Brisbane. They were the sixth and seventh women to join the list, which is headed by another Australian, Belinda Clark, and Debbie Hockley of New Zealand, who both played 118 matches. The other 100-cap wonders are the England pair of Clare Taylor and Jane Smit, both with 105, and Emily Drumm of New Zealand, who played 101. For a full list, click here.

I noticed in a recent article about Mohammad Azharuddin that he played 99 Tests, and also scored a century in his first and last matches. Has anyone else done either of these things? asked Patek Sharma from Chennai

You're right, Mohammad Azharuddin did indeed win 99 Test caps. No-one else has won quite as many without making it to 100: Curtly Ambrose played in 98 Test matches, and Nasser Hussain 96. Apart from Azhar, three other batsmen have scored hundreds in their first and last Tests, and they are all Australians: the current Indian coach Greg Chappell, Reggie Duff and Bill Ponsford. This excludes any current players, and the two men - Andy Ganteaume and Rodney Redmond - who scored a century in their only Test match.

Ed Joyce and his brother made their one-day international debuts in the same match, which must be unique. Have any other members of the family played for Ireland? asked Donald Allsopp from Greenwich

Ed Joyce and his younger brother Dominick both made their official ODI debuts at Belfast last June. They both opened the batting: Dublin-born Ed scored 10 for England, but Dominick made a duck for Ireland. Their older brother Gus Joyce also played for Ireland, in the annual first-class game against Scotland in 2000. And they have twin sisters, Cecelia and Isobel, who have played official ODIs for Ireland's women's team. Isobel Joyce told the BBC in 2003: "There are nine children in our family so we all used to play in the back garden. Our brothers used to teach us how to bowl because they thought it was funny, but then we got quite good at it." The only other instance of brothers playing against each other in a Test or a one-day international was back in 1891-92, when Alec and George Hearne played for England at Cape Town against a South African side which included their brother, Frank. A cousin, JT Hearne, also played for England in that match. Frank Hearne had earlier played for England, against South Africa, in 1888-89, and settled there after that tour. His son, GAL Hearne, later played for South Africa too.

A friend told me recently about a cricket match he watched in Canada in 1989 between West Indies and the Rest of the World, and how it had a crowd of 46,000. Can you tell me some more about this match? asked Sid Raheem from the USA

Your friend has a pretty good memory - this was a match played in the Toronto SkyDome on November 5, 1989, to raise money (over half a million dollars) for the United Way of Greater Toronto charity. The dome's roof was closed (it was freezing cold outside!). According to this article on the Canadian Cricket Association's website the crowd was 40,570. As you can see from the scorecard the West Indies XI (actually there were 12 of them, with Viv Richards captaining) made 228, Carlisle Best top-scoring with 70, then the strong World XI replied with 217, Dave Houghton making 86 and Duleep Mendis 65.

Following on from last week's answer about hat-tricks involving three separate overs, it must therefore be possible to take the wicket of the same batsman twice in the same hat-trick. Has this ever happened? asked Mark Annear

As far as I can tell it has happened only once - and an awfully long time ago! It was a match between Kent and England at Canterbury back in 1844. William Clarke, an underarm bowler and a pioneering figure in those days of wandering "England" teams, ended Kent's first innings with the wicket of John Fagge, then started the second with the wickets of Ned Wenman and Fagge, again, batting at No. 3 this time instead of No. 11.

I read a news article that said Russell Crowe was being lined up to play Bill Woodfull in a new film about Bodyline. Is he any relation of the New Zealand Test-playing Crowes? asked Amy Franklin from Adelaide

Russell Crowe is the cousin of Martin and Jeff Crowe, the former New Zealand captains: like them he was born in New Zealand (although he was brought up in Australia). They all played together for a Crowe XI in a match in Malta in 1999 (Russell outscored Martin, which I imagine pleased him immensely!). As far as the film goes, it will be interesting to see whether it comes to fruition - there have been various plans for a Bodyline film over the years, but the bravest attempt remains the Australian TV mini-series of a few years ago. The news story I read said that Crowe might play "Bill Woodruff", and also talked about the England bowling spearhead "Harold Lawford", which was rather worrying ...