Maiden Test victims, and out at 99

I have seen Sachin Tendulkar frequently becoming a bowler's first Test wicket. Is he the most popular maiden Test victim? asked Ashish Verma from Delhi
Sachin Tendulkar has been the first victim of nine bowlers now - Hansie Cronje, Mark Ealham, Neil Johnson, Ruwan Kalpage, Jacob Oram, Monty Panesar, Ujesh Ranchod, Peter Siddle and Cameron White. Five other players have been the first Test wicket of nine different bowlers: three England legends in Wally Hammond, Jack Hobbs and Len Hutton, Desmond Haynes, the West Indian, and Tendulkar's long-time team-mate Sourav Ganguly. But two other Englishmen were the first Test victim of 10 different bowlers: Colin Cowdrey (dismissed first-up by Basil Butcher, Greg Chappell, Richard Dumbrill, Ken Mackay, Graham McKenzie, Ashley Mallett, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Gordon Rorke, Keith Stackpole and Chester Watson) and Herbert Sutcliffe (a distinguished maiden scalp for Messrs Sandy Bell, Arthur Chipperfield, Doug Freeman, George Francis, Chud Langton, Manny Martindale, Mohammad Nissar, George Parker, Henry Promnitz and Giff Vivian).

Who was the first player to be out hit wicket in a Twenty20 international? asked Hari Prasath via Facebook
At the time of writing there have been three hit-wicket dismissals in Twenty20 internationals. The first to suffer this fate was Kenya's David Obuya, while facing Mark Gillespie of New Zealand during the first World Twenty20 in Durban in September 2007 (that was part of a collapse in which Kenya slipped to 1 for 4, with the first four in the order making ducks). The next to go hit-wicket was AB de Villiers of South Africa, also for 0, against Australia in Melbourne in 2008-09; he was hit painfully on the hip by a rapid ball from Shaun Tait, slipped and lost control of his bat, which hit the stumps. The final one so far befell Gareth Hopkins of New Zealand, also against Australia, in Christchurch in February 2010. Hopkins top-edged Dirk Nannes for four but trod back on his stumps.

Has it ever happened that two bowlers have both taken five wickets in the same one-day international innings? asked James Everton from London
It's only happened once, and the bowlers concerned were rather unlikely destroyers. When England played Australia at Edgbaston in 1977, the visitors' attack included Jeff Thomson and Max Walker... but the two men who emerged with five wickets apiece were the military-medium-pacers Greg Chappell (5 for 20) and Gary Cosier (5 for 18). As you'd probably expect, given no restriction on the number of overs a bowler can deliver, this feat is much more common in Test cricket: it's happened 52 times now, most recently in Chittagong in January, when Shahadat Hossain took 5 for 71 and Shakib Al Hasan 5 for 62 for Bangladesh against India.

Which Test cricketer has the earliest date of birth? asked Abhik Ghoshal from India
The first future Test cricketer to be born saw the light of day on November 16, 1827. This was James Southerton, a round-arm bowler who mainly played for Surrey, although he appeared for Kent and Sussex (in 1867, he turned out for all three, in the days before strict qualification rules). Southerton played for England in the first two Tests of all, in Australia in 1876-77. He was over 49 then, and remains the oldest Test debutant: he was also the first Test cricketer to die (in June 1880). His son, Sydney Southerton, later edited Wisden.

Who or what was a "Flatcapinator"? asked Charles Broadbent from Southampton
This was an amusing nickname given to the (then) Yorkshire and England offspinner Richard Dawson, during the tour of India in 2001-02. England were having trouble combating the whirling spin of the beturbanned Harbhajan Singh, one of whose nicknames is "The Turbanator", and Dawson's Yorkshire upbringing led some journalists to suggest that he might be called "The Flatcapinator" to echo Harbhajan. As far as I can see the term first appeared in the Guardian on December 6, 2001, in the headline above an article by Andy Wilson.

Is there anyone else other than Mohammad Azharuddin who has been left stranded with 99 Test caps? asked Divay Bhardwaj from India
No there isn't - Mohammad Azharuddin is the only one. He scored centuries in his first and 99th matches, too. The great West Indian fast bowler Curtly Ambrose finished his career with 98 Test caps, while Adam Gilchrist, Nasser Hussain and Rod Marsh got stuck on 96. Another fine wicketkeeper, Alan Knott, appeared in 95 Test matches. Andrew Strauss of England and India's Ashish Nehra have so far played in 99 one-day internationals, while Brian Lara appeared in 299.

And there's an addition to last week's question about the man run out in both innings of his Test debut, from Annemarie Tanke from the Netherlands:
"I think I can better the answer you came up with: I got run out for a duck in both innings of the one and only Test I ever played! Pretty awful stuff ..." And it's true: poor Annemarie Tanke was run out for a duck in both innings of her first Test - the only official one ever played by the Netherlands' women's team - against South Africa in Rotterdam in July 2007. There are 10 instances of a player being run out in both innings of a women's Test - but this is the only one to involve a pair, and only the third time on debut (it also happened to the Australian pair of Joyce Dalton in 1957-58 and Ruth Buckstein in 1987). Annemarie did last for 51 balls in her runless first innings, but says overall it was "an experience to forget". However, she adds: "I'm definitely more proud of the stat that I am the only Dutch women's player with both a five-wicket haul and a fifty in one-day internationals!" She scored 61 against West Indies in Utrecht in 2008, and took 5 for 40 against Ireland in Deventer the previous year. It's always great to hear direct from an international player, so thanks to Annemarie for getting in touch - and for owning up!