Good starts, and beginning in Brisbane

Was Australia's 602 for 9 the highest score in the first innings of any Ashes series? asked Davy Cooper from Cardiff

Australia's 602 at Brisbane last week was the highest opening innings in an Ashes series since 1946-47, when Australia made 645, also at Brisbane. Don Bradman made 187 in that innings, which contained the incident featured in last week's "Rewind to ..." column by Martin Williamson. Australia have twice scored 601 in the first innings of an Ashes series since then - at Brisbane in 1954-55 and at Headingley in 1989.

When was the last time the first Test of an Ashes series in Australia was not played at the Gabba? asked Peter Symons from Brisbane

Brisbane has usually staged the first Test of an Ashes series Down Under ever since the first Test was held there, at the old Exhibition Ground, in 1928-29. But there have been two exceptions to the Brisbane-first rule: in 1932-33, when the first Test of the Bodyline series was played at Sydney, and 50 years later in 1982-83, when the first Test was played at Perth. In the three-Test series of 1979-80, when the Ashes were not at stake, the matches were played at Perth, Sydney and Melbourne.

In 1930 Don Bradman scored 309 in one day in a Test. Is it true that at that time a day's play was 330 minutes not 360, which would mean that he scored 309 in 330 minutes? asked Joop van de Swaluw from the Netherlands

To answer the second part first, the hours of play on the first day of that historic Test at Headingley in 1930 were the then-conventional 11.30 to 6.30 - in other words around 360 minutes (although I think the tea interval might have been a bit longer then, making it more like 350 for the day) rather than 330. Bradman came in at 11.38, after eight minutes, when Archie Jackson was out for 1, and had reached 105 (out of 136 for 1) at lunch, only the third time (and there has only been one since) that a batsman has scored a century before lunch on the first day of a Test. He made another ton between lunch and tea, having a cuppa with 220 to his name. Bradman reached 300 shortly before the close, in 336 minutes, and ended the day with 309 not out. He carried on next morning to 334, eventually being out after 383 minutes and 436 balls. He hit 46 fours, and gave one obvious chance, at 273, when the wicketkeeper George Duckworth dropped a hard catch off George Geary.

Which former Test cricketer's autobiography was called Out on a Limb? asked Ashoke Sanyal from India

The player in question is the New Zealander Martin Crowe, who called his 1995 autobiography that after being forced to retire with a chronic knee injury. Crowe, probably the finest batsman New Zealand has ever produced, scored 5444 runs in his 77 Tests, and also made 4704 runs in ODIs. The highlight of his career - and, at the same time, possibly his most frustrating moment - came against Sri Lanka at Wellington in 1990-91, when he was out for 299.

Geoff Griffin, who died last week, was said to be the only man to take a Test hat-trick at Lord's. Is that true? asked Alan Jacobsen from Cape Town

Rather surprisingly, considering that there have now been 112 Test matches staged at Lord's, Geoff Griffin's hat-trick in 1960 does indeed remain the only hat-trick there. It is also still the only Test hat-trick for South Africa - and they have played 314 Tests now, 175 of them since Griffin's feat. It turned out to be Griffin's last Test, too - he was also no-balled for throwing in that match (another first for Lord's), and did not play another international match. For a complete list of Test hat-tricks, click here.

What was George Headley's batting average before the Second World War? asked Reece Kong from Jamaica

When war broke out in 1939 the great Jamaican George Headley, who had just turned 30, was averaging 66.71 in Tests, helped by a good tour of England in which he became the first person (Graham Gooch was the second) to score two centuries in the same Lord's Test. Headley played only three Tests after the war, in three different series, and managed just 55 runs: overall his average slipped to 60.83 - which, as this list shows, has still only been bettered over a whole career by Don Bradman and Graeme Pollock. Mike Hussey now qualifies for this list, after having his 20th innings during the Brisbane Test, and is currently second to Bradman with an average of 76.76. Ricky Ponting is pretty close too, with 59.52.