Best in losses, and 'English' wins

What are the best bowling performances in a losing cause in Tests, ODIs and Twenty20s? asked Ati Ullah via Facebook
I rather think that's three questions, but we'll let that go! The best bowling figures in an innings in a Test the bowler's side ended up losing are 9 for 83, by Kapil Dev for India against West Indies in Ahmedabad in 1983-84, while the best match figures in a losing cause are by another Indian, Javagal Srinath, who took 13 for 132 against Pakistan in Kolkata in 1998-99. The best in one-day internationals is 6 for 14, by Imran Khan against India in Sharjah in 1984-85 in a match Pakistan eventually lost; and in Twenty20 internationals so far it's 5 for 26 by Darren Sammy for West Indies against Zimbabwe in Port-of-Spain in February 2010.

England won the World Twenty20 with a side containing four players born outside England, and they will, in all likelihood, field a similar side in this year's Tests. When was the last time England fielded 11 players all born in the country in a Test match? asked Bill Wilkinson from Birmingham
The last time England fielded 11 English-born players in the same Test side was in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle in December 2003. Nasser Hussain, who was born in India, missed that match but returned for the rest of the series. (Thanks to Mike Leach, who squirrelled out this answer on Facebook.)

When was the last time the players wore white clothing in a one-day international? asked Deepak Gopalakrishnan via Facebook
I think I've been asked this before, and I got it wrong then, so I'll try to nail it this time! The last one-day series contested by teams in pristine white clothing were the five matches during Zimbabwe's tour of India in December 2000. The last time it happened in England was during the early-season series against South Africa in 1998.

With the death of Sir Alec Bedser, how many players who made their Test debuts before the Second World War are still alive? asked John Makepeace from Carlisle
Well, first of all, although the late lamented Sir Alec Bedser made his first-class debut in 1939, he didn't actually play in a Test until England's first post-war series, against India in 1946 (he made up for lost time by taking 11 wickets in his first Test, at Lord's, and 11 more in his second, at Old Trafford). As I write, the only two surviving pre-war Test players are the New Zealander Eric Tindill, who kept wicket in five Tests between 1937 and 1946-47, and fast bowler Norman Gordon, who won five caps for South Africa, all in the 1938-39 series which concluded with the famous "Timeless Test" in Durban (in which he took 1 for 256!). For a full list of the oldest living Test players, click here.

Which Test player's first four matches - consecutive ones for his country - were all against different teams? asked Liam Ryder from Melbourne
The man with this unique start to his career was from your neck of the woods: it's Tony Dodemaide, the Victoria fast-medium bowler, whose Test debut came in the last match of Australia's home series against New Zealand in 1987-88. He then played in one-off matches against England (the bicentenary Test in Sydney) and Sri Lanka, before touring Pakistan and playing in all three Tests there. Three men played their first five Tests against different opponents, but they missed some matches their country played during that time: Eric Russell for England, Bangladesh's Hasibul Hossain (who only played five Tests so has a uniquely varied career), and Robin Peterson of South Africa.

Was Don Bradman ever out first ball in a Test? asked James Gilford from Swanage
Of Don Bradman's seven Test ducks, two of them were first-ballers. The first one is the most famous: in the second Test of the famous Bodyline series in Melbourne in 1932-33, Bradman (who had missed the first Test with illness so was playing his first innings of the series) dragged his first ball, a short one from England's Bill Bowes, down onto his stumps. England's controversial captain Douglas Jardine was apparently so delighted by this development that he was spotted dancing with delight in the field. Bradman was also out first ball in the second Test of the next Ashes series Down Under - he was caught by Gubby Allen off the bowling off Bill Voce in Sydney.

And there's an update to the recent question about players being stumped in international cricket without facing a legal ball:
As we said at the time when it happened to Kieron Pollard on May 3, there was only one previous known instance of a batsman being stumped off his first delivery, that being a wide, which means he goes down in the scorebook as having faced 0 deliveries. Well, it happened again on May 19 in Antigua, when Narsingh Deonarine of West Indies was stumped off his first delivery, a wide from Johan Botha of South Africa.