Who has missed the most Tests between appearances?

In 1986-87, Chris Broad and Geoff Marsh were competing against each other in the Ashes. Now their sons are facing each other in the current Ashes. Has this happened before? asked Rajiv Radhakrishnan from England
This is a first in the Ashes - or, rather, it was a first in the 2015 series, when Stuart Broad faced both Mitchell and Shaun Marsh. There's only one other father-and-son pairing for Australia - Ned and Syd Gregory in the 19th century - which cuts down the Ashes options. There have been several instances of fathers and sons on opposing sides in Tests, and I'm indebted to indefatigable researchers Arnold D'Souza, Aslam Siddiqui and Hemant Brar for ferreting them all out.

The Broads also faced Ken and Hamish Rutherford of New Zealand. Sticking with England, Micky and Alec Stewart faced up to Vijay and Sanjay Manjrekar of India, and also opposed Hanif and Shoaib Mohammad of Pakistan. Len and Richard Hutton faced Vinoo and Ashok Mankad of India, while Frank and George Mann opposed Dave and Dudley Nourse of South Africa. Colin and Chris Cowdrey faced Datta and Anshuman Gaekwad of India.

The Gaekwads also faced off against Hanif and Shoaib Mohammad, their fellow Pakistanis Nazar Mohammad and Mudassar Nazar, and the West Indian father-and-son duo Everton Weekes and David Murray - who also opposed Lala and Mohinder Amarnath. The Mohammads also opposed the Amarnaths and the Manjrekars. Nazar and Mudassar actually faced three different Amarnaths: Mudassar played against two of Lala's sons, Mohinder and Surinder. Completing the list, the South African pair of Peter and Shaun Pollock played against Zin and Chris Harris of New Zealand.

In a unique occurrence, Vic Richardson played against the Nawab of Pataudi Sr during the 1932-33 Bodyline series, then in 1967-68, Richardson's grandson Ian Chappell opposed the Nawab of Pataudi Jr (later Mansur Ali Khan). For the full list of related Test players, click here.

Four Indian players scored hundreds in the same innings at Nagpur. How often has this happened in a Test? asked Ricky Dooley from Australia
India's fine effort against Sri Lanka in Nagpur at the weekend was the 22nd time overall that a Test innings had contained four individual centuries, but only the third instance for India - they also did it against Bangladesh in Mirpur in 2007, and against South Africa in Kolkata in 2009-10.

However, there have been two Test innings that contained five individual three-figure scores: Australia's 758 for 8 against West Indies in Kingston in 1954-55, and Pakistan's 543 for 3 against Bangladesh in Multan in 2001. For the full list, click here.

Tim Paine was recalled for the Ashes opener after missing more than 70 Tests. Was this a record for Australia? asked Craig Richardson from Australia
Before being recalled for the opening Test of the Ashes series in Brisbane, Tim Paine had missed Australia's last 78 Tests - his previous cap came against India in Bangalore in October 2010. That equalled the Australian record: Brad Hogg also missed 78 Tests, between his debut in 1996-97 and his second match, in 2002-03. The Australian record in terms of time is held by Bob Simpson, who went almost ten years between 1967-68 and his recall, aged nearly 40, as captain during the World Series Cricket era - but Simmo missed only 71 Tests in that period.

The overall record changed hands last year: Gareth Batty reappeared for England after missing 142 Tests in more than 11 years, breaking the mark held by another Surrey bowler, Martin Bicknell, who missed 114 between 1993 and 2003. For the full list, click here.

I noticed that John Warr, the spectacularly unsuccessful England bowler, was bowled in all four of his Test innings. Can anyone match this? asked Trevor Ross from England
The Middlesex fast bowler John Warr won two Test caps, both in Australia in 1950-51, and was indeed bowled in all four of his innings - the last three of them ducks. Warr was more famous for taking only one wicket (Ian Johnson) in the series, giving him a Test average of 281.00 that for around 40 years was the worst of all.

But Warr isn't quite top of the all-bowled list. An earlier England player, Nottinghamshire offspinner Sam Staples, had five Test innings in South Africa in 1927-28 - and had his timbers disturbed in all of them. And Philip Hutchinson, who played in South Africa's first two Tests, in 1888-89, was also bowled in all four of his innings.

Sanath Jayasuriya played his first one-day international in 1989, and his last in 2011. Was this the longest international career of all? asked Bharat Sethi from India
Sanath Jayasuriya played his first one-day international for Sri Lanka in Melbourne on Boxing Day 1989, and played his 445th and last ODI in England in June 2011, at The Oval. His ODI career lasted 21 years 184 days, and only Sachin Tendulkar had a longer one - 22 years 91 days, as this table shows. Javed Miandad also played ODIs more than 20 years apart.

The longest international career of all, however, involves Test cricket: the Yorkshire and England allrounder Wilfred Rhodes made his Test debut against Australia at Trent Bridge in 1899, and finished nearly 31 years later, against West Indies in Kingston in 1929-30. For the list of the longest Test careers, click here.

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