Fathers, sons, captains ... and Greeks

The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket:

Ryan and Arnie Sidebottom were the 10th of 11 fathers and sons to play Test cricket for England - the 11th came when Simon Jones joined his father Jeff as an England player in 2002, a year after Ryan Sidebottom's Test debut. The others were Fred and Maurice Tate; Charlie and David Townsend; Frank and George Mann, who both captained England; Joe Hardstaff senior and Joe junior; James and "Young Jim" Parks; Leonard and Richard Hutton; Colin and Chris Cowdrey; Micky and Alec Stewart; and Alan and Mark Butcher. For a complete list of related Test players, click here.

What was Brian Lara's record as West Indies captain? asked Peter Jean-Paul from St Lucia

Brian Lara captained West Indies in 47 Test matches, winning 10, drawing 11 and losing 26. He scored 4685 runs at an average of 57.83 as captain in those 47 games, compared to 7268 runs at 50.12 in the 84 matches when he wasn't. Lara also skippered in 125 one-day internationals, winning and losing 59, with seven no-results.

I read somewhere that Michael Vaughan had now won more Tests than any other England captain. Who did he beat? And who holds the overall record? asked Peter Mobberley from Swindon

England's win over West Indies at Headingley was Michael Vaughan's 20th in 34 matches as captain, which equalled the England record of Peter May, who won 20 of his 41 Tests. The overall record is 41 wins as captain (in only 57 matches) by Australia's Steve Waugh. For a list of most appearances (and most wins) as a Test captain, click here.

Has there ever been a player of Greek origin who played international cricket? asked Ravi Kumar from Scotland

The most famous one was probably Xenophon Balaskas, who played nine Tests for South Africa in the 1930s. He made an unbeaten 122 - the only double-figure score in his first 12 Test innings - against New Zealand at Wellington in 1931-32. He also took nine wickets with his legspin as South Africa completed their first Test win in England, at Lord's in 1935. Balaskas's parents were Greek migrants who owned the first restaurant in the diamond town of Kimberley. A later South African spinner, John Traicos (who also played for Zimbabwe), had Greek parents, although he was born in Egypt. Coming right up to date, Nic Pothas, the Hampshire wicketkeeper who played three one-day internationals for South Africa in 2000 but is now hoping to qualify for England, is from a Greek family. "I came under a Greek passport, I am from a Greek family and not a second-generation. Only really my immediate family, my Mum and Dad and brother, are from South Africa, the rest of the family are all in Athens," Pothas said in 2003.

What is the highest score for each batting position in Tests and one-day internationals?asked Jared Emerson from Coffs Harbour, Australia

You can find these in the Cricinfo records section. For the Test list, click here, and for one-day internationals click here.

I vaguely remember a one-day match involving Somerset in the 1970s when they declared after one over. What were the circumstances that led to the declaration? asked Mukesh Raithatha

The match in question was a Benson & Hedges group game between Somerset and Worcestershire at New Road in May 1979. Brian Rose, Somerset's captain, had worked out that the only way his side could fail to qualify for the later stages would be if their run rate was badly affected by a heavy defeat, so he declared after one over, thus ensuring the run rate was almost unaffected. It didn't work, though: there was such an outcry that Somerset were thrown out of the competition anyway, for bringing the game into disrepute. Declarations in one-day innings were outlawed shortly afterwards. My colleague Martin Williamson covered this incident in greater detail in this Rewind to ... column on Cricinfo a couple of years ago.

And there's an afterthought to last week's question about the fastest Test-debut centuries. from Charles Davis in Australia

"For your records, at Sydney in 1907-08 George Gunn reached his debut century in 122 minutes, according to contemporary accounts, which may be marginally faster than Ranji's in 1896 (when an old account says "125 minutes", there may be a few minutes either way). In any case, Prior's century at Lord's was faster. You could still say that Gunn has the "soonest" century on debut. He reached 100 about 135 minutes' playing time after his debut Test commenced, about 180 minutes elapsed time. I don't have balls faced for those early innings, but if they received half the strike, Gunn would have faced about 115 balls and Ranji 130."