Hundreds against Australia, and 300 partnerships

How many captains have scored a century against Australia in a one-day international? asked Farhan from Pakistan
There have only been 10 instances of someone who was captain in the match in question scoring a one-day century against Australia, and two of those were by New Zealand's Stephen Fleming, both of them early in 1998. The highest score by a captain against Australia is MS Dhoni's 124 in Nagpur last week. The other captains to have managed this were Mike Atherton and David Gower of England, Zimbabwe's Alistair Campbell, Martin Crowe of New Zealand, Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya, Graeme Smith of South Africa, and probably most famously, Clive Lloyd for West Indies in the 1975 World Cup final at Lord's.

Have there been any other 300 partnerships in one-day internationals apart from the two that Rahul Dravid has been involved in? asked Aravind Ramesh from the United States
No, there have only been two partnerships of more than 300 in one-day internationals, and Rahul Dravid was part of both of them. In Hyderabad in November 1999, Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar put on 331 for the second wicket against New Zealand, which broke the overall record established earlier that year when Dravid and Sourav Ganguly added 318, also for the second wicket, against Sri Lanka at Taunton during the 1999 World Cup. For the full list of the highest partnerships in ODIs, click here.

Lawrence Rowe is the only player to score a hundred and a double-century on Test debut. Does he also hold the record for the most runs scored in a Test by a debutant? asked Keith D'Souza from Nigeria
Lawrence Rowe, who scored 214 and 100 not out against New Zealand in Kingston in 1971-72, does indeed hold the record for the most runs in a player's first Test. The only other man to make more than 300 was Reginald "Tip" Foster, who scored 287 and 19 for England against Australia in Sydney in 1903-04. There was a near-miss in Karachi in August 2003, when Pakistan's Yasir Hameed made 170 and 105 against Bangladesh.

Which man has played in the most World Cups? asked Kashif from the United Arab Emirates
The only man to play in six World Cups is Pakistan's Javed Miandad, who played in the inaugural one in 1975 when he was only 17, and was still around to play in the 1995-96 tournament. Miandad's long-time team-mate Imran Khan played in the first five. Seven others have played in five World Cups since then: Aravinda de Silva, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Sanath Jayasuriya, Brian Lara, Arjuna Ranatunga, Sachin Tendulkar and Wasim Akram.

I noticed that MS Dhoni averages more than 100 in ODIs India won after fielding first. Is this a record? asked Rohit Sinha from the United States
MS Dhoni now averages 124.08 from 34 innings (22 not-outs) in 45 matches that India won after fielding first. This is the highest by anyone who has featured in 20 such matches. Dropping the qualification bar a little Thomas Odoyo averages 126.50 in 17 matches which Kenya won after fielding first, although he only had seven innings and was not out in five of them. And right at the top of the list New Zealand's Jeremy Coney scored 342 runs in 12 innings in 17 matches that New Zealand won after fielding first - but he remained not out in all 12 of those innings, perhaps making him the ultimate "finisher"! You can answer this sort of very specific query using Statsguru, as I did.

Further to last week's question about Hamilton Masakadza's prolific scoring against Kenya, I believe he also became the highest run-scorer in any series between two countries. Is that right? asked Neil Williamson
Yes, it is indeed: Hamilton Masakadza made 467 runs in those five matches against Kenya recently, breaking the previous record for a bilateral one-day series, which was 455 by Chris Gayle for West Indies in a seven-match series in India in 2002-03, one ahead of Kevin Pietersen's 454 for England in seven matches in South Africa in 2004-05.