Three innings wins, and hundreds from 7 and 8

How often has a team had three innings victories in the same Test series, as England did in the Ashes? asked Sandy Whitlock (and quite a lot of other England supporters)
The just-completed Ashes series was only the 11th one in which a side recorded three innings victories - and it was only the second time that this had been achieved by the visiting team. The other such occurrence was in 1935-36, when the Australian tourists won three of their five matches in South Africa by an innings. It was the fifth time that England had won three Tests in a series by an innings, the first such instance coming in 1928, when they won all three matches of what was West Indies' first official Test series by wide margins. England also achieved the feat in successive home seasons from 1957 to 1959, against West Indies, New Zealand and India. This was also the first time that there had been three innings victories by one side in an Ashes series.

England's No. 7 and 8 both scored centuries in Sydney. How often has this happened in the same Test innings? asked Albert Sanders from Middlesex
The centuries by Ian Bell and Matt Prior in the final Ashes Test in Sydney represented the ninth occasion that Nos. 7 and 8 had scored hundreds in the same Test innings. Not surprisingly, perhaps, the list features quite a few players who were batting lower than usual because of injury or the earlier use of a nightwatchman (as was the case in Sydney, when Jimmy Anderson had gone in at No. 5). Only four of the previous instances occurred before 2001: Everton Weekes and Robert Christiani scored centuries from Nos. 7 and 8 for West Indies v India in Delhi in 1948-49; Denis Atkinson and Clairmonte Depeiaza for West Indies v Australia in Bridgetown in 1954-55; John Waite and Paul Winslow for South Africa v England at Old Trafford in 1955; and Jeff Dujon and Clive Lloyd for West Indies v India in St John's in 1982-83. More recently the feat has been achieved by Hashan Tillakaratne and Thilan Samaraweera for Sri Lanka v India in Colombo in 2001, Simon Katich and Adam Gilchrist for Australia v New Zealand in Christchurch in 2004-05, Brendon McCullum and Daniel Vettori for New Zealand v Zimbabwe in Harare in 2005-06, and Prasanna Jayawardene and Chaminda Vaas for Sri Lanka v Bangladesh in Colombo in 2007.

Has anyone ever scored 150 or more in three successive Test innings? asked Bayside via Facebook
Only two people have done this - and remarkably they achieved it in the same Test series. For Pakistan against India at home in 1982-83, Zaheer Abbas scored 215 in the first Test, 186 in the second and 168 in the third, then Mudassar Nazar took over with 231 in the fourth Test, 152 not out in the fifth and 152 in the sixth. Neither man had any innings in between his three-figure scores.

Has Sachin Tendulkar had more different team-mates than anyone else in Tests? asked Nitin Chowdhury from Kolkata
Sachin Tendulkar has had 97 team-mates so far in Tests, but that only places him fifth on the list at the moment. Graham Gooch had the most team-mates during his Test career, which stretched from 1975 to 1994-95: he played alongside 113 different men. Englishmen occupy the next three places too: Frank Woolley had 111 different team-mates in Tests, Wally Hammond 106 and Len Hutton 98. Colin Cowdrey and Alec Stewart also had 97 team-mates. Tendulkar does hold the record for one-day internationals, though: he's had 117 different colleagues in ODIs, which puts him ahead of Sanath Jayasuriya (111), Brian Lara and Rahul Dravid (both 110), Anil Kumble (107), Wasim Akram (106), Shahid Afridi (102) and Sourav Ganguly (101). All of those except Tendulkar and Akram have had a few "bonus" team-mates in composite sides such as the World XI or Asia XI

I noticed that the Australian Anthony Stuart took five wickets (including a hat-trick!) in what turned out to be his last one-day international. Does anyone else share this unfortunate fate? asked Sunil Narayan Shrestha from Nepal
The New South Wales fast bowler Anthony Stuart's fine figures of 5 for 26 - which did include a hat-trick - came in the last qualifying match of the triangular one-day series in Australia in 1996-97, against Pakistan at the MCG. But Australia didn't make the finals that year, and Stuart was out of favour by the time the next season rolled around. The others who rounded off their ODI careers with a five-wicket haul in their final match are Andrew Flintoff (5 for 19 for England v West Indies in St Lucia in 2008-09), Shaukat Dukanwala (5 for 29 for UAE v Netherlands in Lahore in the 1996 World Cup), and the current ICC match referee Alan Hurst (5 for 21 for Australia v Canada at Edgbaston in the 1979 World Cup). Among current players, Josh Davey (Scotland), Clint McKay (Australia) and Ed Rainsford (Zimbabwe) all took five wickets in their most recent one-day international.

The question "Who was the first substitute fielder to hold a catch in a Test" was asked during the commentary of a recent Test, and I missed the answer. What is it, please? asked VN Bedekar from India
The answer is a peculiar one: the first substitute to take a catch in a Test was also the opposing captain in the match in question! It was in the game between England and Australia in 1884 at Lord's - the first Test ever played there - that the Australian captain Billy Murdoch went out to field for England after WG Grace went off with an injured finger. (It should be remembered that this was the very early days of Test cricket, and the time of national squads and copious emergency fieldsmen was some way off.) Murdoch had the unusual experience of taking the catch off "Tup" Scott (who had top-scored with 75) that ended his own side's innings. A few years later, in 1891-92, Murdoch actually played a Test for England, in South Africa.