The best over-30s, and a player with 12 fingers

Who has scored the most Test runs after reaching the age of 30? asked Jermaine Peel from London
The leader among batsmen is Matthew Hayden, who scored 7306 of his 8625 Test runs after turning 30. Next come Alec Stewart (6758 in 107 matches, a record for the over-30s), Brian Lara (6547), Steve Waugh (6487), Graham Gooch (6360) and Allan Border (6139). Rahul Dravid has so far scored 5876 runs in Tests since turning 30, while Sachin Tendulkar has 5026. In one-day internationals the leader is Sanath Jayasuriya (8674), well clear of Adam Gilchrist (5771). Turning to bowlers, Muttiah Muralitharan took 388 Test wickets after his 30th birthday, to Shane Warne's 386. Murali (239) also leads the way in ODIs, ahead of Glenn McGrath (217) and Wasim Akram (215).

I was wondering if an extra finger would prove to be of any advantage to a bowler. Are there any cricketers with six fingers? asked Arun from India
I know of a few cricketers who have managed to play Tests despite losing one or more fingers (or parts of them), notably the Australian left-arm spinner Bert Ironmonger (who flicked the ball off the stump of a finger he'd lost in an accident) and the 1980s Pakistan left-arm fast bowler Azeem Hafeez, who was born with two fingers missing on his right hand. But I'm not aware of anyone who played to a significant level with any extra digits, although I do know that Garry Sobers was actually born with six fingers on each hand. In his 2002 autobiography, in a chapter called "Twelve-fingered symphony", Sobers wrote: "The other kids would say I was so good at cricket because I had six fingers on each hand ... the first extra finger fell off quite early, when I was about nine or ten, and I played my first colonial game with 11 fingers! I took the second off when I was 14 or 15 and playing serious cricket."

What's the highest individual score in the fourth innings of a Test, and how many Indians have made hundreds in the fourth innings of one? asked Anurag from India
Five players have scored a double-century in the fourth innings of a Test, and the highest score among them is George Headley's 223 for West Indies against England in Kingston in 1929-30. Nathan Astle threatened that record with 222 for New Zealand v England in Christchurch in 2001-02, while Sunil Gavaskar made 221 for India v England at The Oval in 1979. Bill Edrich hit 219 in the final innings of the famous Timeless Test in Durban in 1938-39, and Gordon Greenidge sped West Indies to a nine-wicket victory over England at Lord's in 1984 with 214 not out. There have been 23 centuries for India in the fourth innings of Tests, four by Gavaskar, three by Sachin Tendulkar, two by Mohammad Azharuddin, and one each by Ajit Agarkar, Abbas Ali Baig, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Vijay Hazare, Wasim Jaffer, ML Jaisimha, VVS Laxman, Sanjay Manjrekar, Mushtaq Ali, Polly Umrigar, Gundappa Viswanath, Dilip Vengsarkar and Yuvraj Singh.

Is Humayun Farhat, the brother of Imran Farhat, the only Test player selected as a wicketkeeper who was not involved in any fielding dismissals? asked Matt Coles
Rather to my surprise, it turns out that he is: Humayun Farhat played one Test for Pakistan, against New Zealand in Hamilton in March 2001 (alongside his brother Imran). Humayun did not make any dismissals during New Zealand's only innings - but, to his credit, he didn't concede any byes either in a total of 407 for 4. Every other player selected as a wicketkeeper in Tests has taken at least one catch or stumping during his career. There are 18 keepers who ended up with one solitary dismissal, including Karl Nunes of West Indies (who took another catch as a fielder) and Lanka de Silva of Sri Lanka, who both made only one catch in three Tests behind the stumps.

Who holds the record for playing the most Test matches without ever playing one away from home? asked Mirza Faizan Ali Baig via Facebook
The record-holder here is the Honourable Stanley Jackson, who played 20 Test matches between 1893 and 1905, all of them in England. He rounded off his international career with a remarkable Ashes series as captain, in which he topped the batting and bowling averages, and won all five tosses on the way to winning the series 2-0. Wisden lamented of Jackson that "unfortunately he could not go on any tour to Australia owing to business reasons". Bert Ironmonger, the unorthodox left-arm spinner, played all his 14 Tests at home in Australia, the last of them when he was 50. If you take one-day internationals into account, second place goes to Yorkshire's Anthony McGrath, whose four Tests and 14 ODIs all took place in England. This subject was covered in more depth in a recent The List column on Cricinfo.

What's the highest total in a Test or a one-day international that did not include a single extra? asked Barry Church from King's Lynn
The highest Test total not to include any extras at all is Pakistan's 328 - in 187.5 overs - against India in Lahore in 1954-55. That's a long way clear of the next best, South Africa's 252 against England in Durban in 1930-31. In one-day internationals the record is South Africa's 178 for 5 against New Zealand in Faisalabad during the 1996 World Cup. There have been only two other innings of over 100 in ODIs that did not include any extras at all: Pakistan's 142 for 1 against the Netherlands in the Champions Trophy in Colombo in 2002, and Australia's 106 for 0 v Bangladesh in Antigua during the 2006-07 World Cup.