How many players have scored a hundred in their first T20I?

Has anyone scored a hundred in their first T20 international? asked Shahzad Raza from Pakistan
Until very recently the record for the highest score on T20 international debut dated from the very first such match: Ricky Ponting made 98 not out for Australia against New Zealand in the first one, in Auckland in February 2005. But in the space of three days this August, two men scored hundreds in their first T20 internationals: first, Ravinderpal Singh scored 101 for Canada against the Cayman Islands in Bermuda on August 18, then two days later Jean-Pierre Kotze hit an unbeaten 101 - from 43 balls, with nine sixes - for Namibia against Botswana in Windhoek.

For the full list of highest scores on T20 international debut, click here.

Kyle Abbott took 17 wickets against Somerset. Was this a record in the County Championship? asked Christopher Wright from England
The Hampshire fast bowler Kyle Abbott's remarkable performance against Somerset in Southampton last week - he followed 9 for 40 with 8 for 46 - put him high on the list of the best match figures in first-class cricket.

Abbott's 17 for 86 were the best first-class figures anywhere for 63 years, since the England offspinner Jim Laker famously took 19 for 90 against Australia in the Ashes Test at Old Trafford in 1956. It stands 11th on the all-time list, although four of the better analyses came in matches in the 19th century, some of which would not be considered first-class these days.

There have only ever been three better sets of match figures in the County Championship. The Kent slow left-armer Colin Blythe took 17 for 48 (10 for 30 and 7 for 18) against Northamptonshire in Northampton in 1907; Charlie Parker, another left-arm spinner, collected 17 for 56 (9 for 44 and 8 for 12) for Gloucestershire against Essex in Gloucester in 1925; and the Kent legspinner Tich Freeman claimed 17 for 67 (9 for 11 and 8 for 56) against Sussex in Hove in 1922.

Darren Stevens followed a double-century with five wickets in the same match the other day. Is he the oldest to achieve this double? asked Patrick Johnstone from Kent
That astonishing feat by 43-year-old Darren Stevens in Kent's 433-run demolition of Yorkshire at Headingley last week put him in very rarefied company indeed. Stevens scored 237 - he was the oldest to score a Championship double-century since Walter Keeton of Nottinghamshire in 1949 - then, after opening the bowling in Yorkshire's second innings, took 5 for 20. The only other 40-year-old to achieve this double in any first-class match was none other than WG Grace, who was 46 when he took 5 for 87 and then scored 288 for Gloucestershire against Somerset in Bristol in 1895.

Lasith Malinga recently became the first bowler to take 100 wickets in T20 internationals. Who was the first to 100 in Tests, and in ODIs? asked Anusha Gunasekera from Sri Lanka
You're right that Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga recently took his 100th wicket in T20 internationals: as this list shows, he nipped past Shahid Afridi, who had 98.

The first man to reach 100 wickets in Tests was the England slow left-armer Johnny Briggs, who got there in an Ashes Test in Sydney on February 1, 1895, three days before the Australian bowler Charles "Terror" Turner.

The first man to 100 in one-day internationals was Dennis Lillee, during Australia's World Cup match against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge in June 1983 (it was an otherwise forgettable match for Australia, as the Zimbabweans won the game, their first official ODI). At that time, Ian Botham was next with 82 wickets, then Greg Chappell with 72.

Who was the first Indian bowler to take ten wickets in an innings in a first-class game in India? asked Maneck Jadeja from India
The first Indian bowler to achieve this rare feat was the legspinner Subhash "Fergie" Gupte, with 10 for 78 for Bombay Cricket Association against a combined XI, made up of touring players from Pakistan, at the Brabourne Stadium in Bombay in December 1954.

Gupte was later the first Indian to take nine in a Test innings, with 9 for 102 against West Indies in Kanpur in 1958-59, when his victims included Garry Sobers, who always rated Gupte's bowling very highly.

Fergie Gupte was recently the subject of an unusual cricket book, Love Without Boundaries. Written by his daughter, Carolyn Gupte, it looks at the long and happy marriage of her parents, who met while Gupte was touring the West Indies in 1952-53 (he later settled in Trinidad). For more details, click here.