A century gained, a century lost

How many people have scored a century and conceded one in the same Test, as Moeen Ali did in the second Test against Sri Lanka? asked Ernest Andrews from Hampstead, London
This is a fairly common achievement in Tests: Moeen Ali's 155 not out and 1 for 136 against Sri Lanka in Chester-le-Street last week was the 11th such instance for England, including two by Ben Stokes in the last year or so - against New Zealand at Lord's last May, and v South Africa in Cape Town in January, when he followed his whirlwind 258 with 1 for 100. Tony Greig, Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff also managed it twice, and Len Braund and Maurice Tate once each. It's been done on 46 other occasions by players from other countries. The most by a single nation is India's 14 - three by Vinoo Mankad, two each by Harbhajan Singh and Vijay Hazare, and one by R Ashwin, Chandu Borde, Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble, Bapu Nadkarni, Ravi Shastri and Poly Umrigar. Australians have done it eight times (Greg Matthews three, Keith Miller twice, Richie Benaud, George Giffen and Mitchell Johnson once) and New Zealanders seven (Daniel Vettori three, Chris Cairns two, Richard Hadlee and Jacob Oram one). Pakistan (Imran Khan, Intikhab Alam, Mohammad Hafeez, Saqlain Mushtaq and Wasim Akram) and West Indies (Garry Sobers three, Denis Atkinson and Darren Sammy one) have both clocked up five. Aubrey Faulkner, Jimmy Sinclair and - perhaps the most surprising name on this list - Graeme Smith achieved the feat for South Africa. Smith took 2 for 145 as West Indies racked up 747 in Antigua in 2005; he'd earlier scored 126. Grant Flower and Paul Strang did it for Zimbabwe, and Chaminda Vaas for Sri Lanka - while Bangladesh's only entry on the list came from Abul Hasan who, on his debut against West Indies in Khulna in 2012-13, scored 113 from No. 10, then balanced the ledger neatly with bowling figures of 0 for 113.

Apparently there's only one England Test in which three players from the same county all scored centuries - which match was it? asked Andrew Jarvis from Scotland
There have now been 40 Tests in which England batsmen have managed three or more centuries - the record remains five, against West Indies at Lord's in 2007. In only one of those matches were the centurions all from the same county: it was against West Indies at Lord's in 1969, when John Hampshire made 107 on his debut, Ray Illingworth 113, and Geoff Boycott 106 in the second innings. All three of them were born in Yorkshire, although by then Illingworth had left his native county and was playing for Leicestershire.

I noticed that when India were bowled out for 54 in the Champions Trophy final there were no ducks. Was this the lowest international total not to feature one? asked Lakshmi Narayanan from India
India's 54 in that Champions Trophy final against Sri Lanka in Sharjah in 2000-01 was indeed the lowest international total not to include a duck - everyone got off the mark, but the highest score was Robin Singh's 11. Zaheer Khan was the only man out for 1. Next on the list for ODIs is South Africa's 83 against England at Trent Bridge in 2008; Makhaya Ntini finished with 0 not out, but all the dismissed batsmen made runs. The record for Tests is 75, by Australia against South Africa in Durban in 1949-50 (five batsmen made 2, and another 2 not out), while the T20 record is Sri Lanka's 82 (with three batsmen out for 1) against India in Visakhapatnam in February 2016.

Who was the quickest to reach 25 ODI centuries - Tendulkar or Kohli? asked Seetaram from India
Only five men so far have scored 25 centuries in one-day internationals. Virat Kohli got there the quickest, in 162 innings (170 matches), while Sachin Tendulkar took 234 (in 241 matches). Then come Ricky Ponting, in 279 innings (288 matches), Sanath Jayasuriya 373 (384) and Kumar Sangakkara 379 (403). If you're talking about the time taken, Kohli reached 25 hundreds in less than seven and a half years. Tendulkar took just over ten, Ponting nearly 13, Sangakkara over 14 and a half years, and Jayasuriya more than 17.

I heard that Colin Milburn was run out for a duck in his maiden Test innings, and wondered how many other players this has happened to? asked Ali George from England
Colin Milburn is one of 15 players whose maiden Test innings ended by being run out for nought. In his case it was during the first Test against West Indies at Old Trafford in 1966; he made up for it with 94 in the second innings as England followed on. The first to suffer this unfortunate fate was England's Monty Bowden, in South Africa's inaugural Test in Port Elizabeth in 1888-89. And the most recent one was the West Indian left-arm seamer Kenroy Peters, who was run out in his only innings of his only Test, against South Africa - also in Port Elizabeth - in 2014-15. There are another ten men who were run out for a duck in the second innings of their debut match. Perhaps the saddest tale of all, though, belongs to the Dutchwoman Annemarie Tanke, who was run out for nought in both innings of her only Test, including a 51-ball duck, against South Africa in Rotterdam in 2007.

Has any bowler dismissed all the batsmen in a Test, but finished with only 11 wickets? asked Steve from Australia
There are only six instances of a bowler dismissing all 11 opposing batsmen in a Test - the list is headed, not surprisingly, by Jim Laker's 19-wicket haul in the Ashes Test at Old Trafford in 1956. The other five bowlers, though, took 12 or 13 wickets. When Waqar Younis claimed 12 for 130 for Pakistan against New Zealand in Faisalabad in 1990-91, the only man he removed twice was Willie Watson; Srinivas Venkataraghavan's 12 for 152 for India in Delhi in 1964-65 included the New Zealand opener Terry Jarvis twice; and Geoff Dymock's 12 for 166 for Australia in Kanpur in 1979-80 featured the wicket of India's Shivlal Yadav in both innings.