Have England ever won a Test in Perth?

Have England ever won a Test in Perth? asked Nicky Harrison from England
England have a pretty poor record in Test matches in Perth, where the Ashes series starts later this week. They haven't yet played at the new Perth Stadium - Australia won the first four Tests played there before coming a cropper against India last November - but at the traditionally bouncy pitch at the former Test ground, the WACA, England played 14 matches and won only one. That was in 1978-79, when Australia had a weakened team thanks to defections to Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket.

Of the others, Australia won ten, with England escaping with draws in 1970 (the inaugural Test at the WACA), 1982 and 1986. Australia have won the last eight Ashes Tests in Perth, mostly by wide margins.

Sam Nogajski gave an lbw decision off the fourth ball of his first Test - was this the earliest decision a debutant umpire has had to make? asked Lachie from Australia
Umpire Sam Nogajski from Tasmania, who was standing in his first Test, gave Ireland's captain Andy Balbirnie out to the fourth ball of the match against Bangladesh in Sylhet a few days ago.

It's quite early in a Test career to be giving a decision - but it's not a record: another Aussie, Bill Alley, gave Sunil Gavaskar out caught behind from his very first ball as an umpire in a Test, at Edgbaston in 1974. Alley recalled: "Geoff Arnold thundered in and cut back his first delivery, which Gavaskar tried to avoid but could not. The ball appeared to run along the bat and Alan Knott held the catch about six feet down the leg side. I was still nervously fumbling the coins in my pocket, which I used to count the number of deliveries bowled in each over. There was an appeal and I was lifting my hand from my pocket to give him out, like a gun from a holster, but Gavaskar had decided to take the law into his own hands… he put his bat under his arm and was on his way to the pavilion." I suppose it's therefore debatable whether Alley actually had to give a decision!

In Brisbane in 1936, England's Stan Worthington was caught behind trying to hook the first ball of an Ashes series. According to the watching Bruce Harris, "It was the first Test in which Jack Scott, the old South Australian fast bowler, umpired, and he had to make a decision first ball!"

And in 1974 again, umpire Har Prasad Sharma gave India's Sudhir Naik out caught behind from the first ball of the match against West Indies in Calcutta.

We don't have full details of many early Tests, so it's often not known at which end an umpire was officiating, or whether a decision was even required. Herbert Sutcliffe of England was caught behind against New Zealand in Christchurch in 1933: both umpires, Thomas Burgess and Richard Torrance, were standing in their first Test. In the following cases it seems unlikely a decision was required (and we don't know at which end the umpires were standing). The West Indian opener Conrad Hunte was caught in the field off the first ball in Port-of-Spain in 1958: George Williams was standing in his first (and only) Test. Keith Stackpole was caught at slip off the first ball in Auckland in 1974: umpire Ralph Gardiner was in his first Test. And South Africa's Jimmy Cook was caught at third slip to the first ball of the match against India in Durban in 1992: umpire Karl Liebenberg was in his first Test (as was Cook).

Bangladesh's Hannan Sarkar was lbw first ball against West Indies in St Lucia in 2004: Jeremy Lloyds was making his debut as umpire, but was at the other end (Sarkar was lbw to the first ball of the next Test too, and that time Lloyds did give the decision). Chris Gayle of West Indies was lbw to the first ball of the match against Sri Lanka in Pallekele in 2010, but debutant umpire Bruce Oxenford was at the other end. Here's the full list of those out to the first ball of a Test.

Is Jordan Neill the first teenager to play a Test for Ireland? asked Kevin Finucane from Ireland
The Ireland allrounder Jordan Neill was 19 years 245 days old when he made his Test debut last week, against Bangladesh in Sylhet. He was their first Test-playing teenager: their previous-youngest player was Neill's team-mate Matthew Humphreys, who was 20 years 208 days old when he made his debut, against Sri Lanka in Galle in 2023. Humphreys and Neill were also both making their first-class debuts, joining this list of players who made their first-class debuts in Tests.

Neill made his one-day international debut last May, against West Indies at Malahide, aged 19 years 83 days. George Dockrell and Paul Stirling were both 17 when they played their first ODIs for Ireland. Their youngest T20 international is Josh Little, who was only 16 when he played against Hong Kong in Bready in 2016.

Ireland have had younger women players, though: Lucy O'Reilly, Elena Tice and Josh Little's sister Louise were all 13 when they played their first ODIs, while Gaby Lewis was even younger when she made her T20 international debut - 13 years 166 days against South Africa in Solihull in September 2014.

Stan Squires of Surrey once scored 236 out of a team total of 345. Is this the highest percentage at first-class level that includes a double-hundred? asked Phil Carter from Norway
Stan Squires had a long career for Surrey, scoring over 19,000 runs between 1928 and 1949 despite usually wearing glasses. In his last season he made 1785 runs, his second-highest annual return, but sadly died a few months later from what Wisden called "a virus of the blood". Surrey team-mates Alec and Eric Bedser paid tribute in their book Following On: "His death was a sad blow to us all. Stan had many virtues and no major faults. He was a fine allround cricketer - his ability to play slow bowling was a byword in the game - and his sunny temperament often cheered up the team when depression threatened the dressing-room."

The innings you're referring to came against Lancashire at The Oval in 1933. Squires' 236 represented 68.40% of the total of 345 - but, surprisingly perhaps, there have been several higher percentages than that. The highest of all in a completed first-class innings by a double-centurion is 81.56%, by Namibia's Gerrie Snyman against Kenya in the Intercontinental Cup in Sharjah in 2008: Snyman hit 230 of Namibia's total of 282, with the next-highest contribution being 13.

The only higher percentage in any completed first-class innings is 83.43%, by Glenn Turner, with 141 of Worcestershire's 169 against Glamorgan in Swansea in 1977, when the next-highest contribution was 7, by Norman Gifford. The Test record was set in the very first match of all, in Melbourne in 1877, when Charles Bannerman's 165 represented 67.34% of Australia's first innings of 245. The Test record involving an individual score of more than 200 was set by Seymour Nurse, with 258 out of 417 (61.87%) for West Indies vs New Zealand in Christchurch in Match 1969.

Who took England's first wicket in one-day internationals? asked David Cooper from England
What has become recognised as the first one-day international of all was played between Australia and England in Melbourne in January 1971, after the scheduled third Test of the Ashes series was washed out. To the organisers' surprise, over 46,000 spectators turned up, and a new format was born.

England batted first: the first man out was Geoff Boycott, caught by Australia's captain Bill Lawry off the bowling of Alan "Froggy" Thomson. When Australia batted, needing a modest 191 to win in 40 eight-ball overs, their first casualty was Keith Stackpole, who gave a sharp return catch to the Lancashire fast bowler Ken Shuttleworth, who was playing in what turned out to be his only ODI. You can see this wicket at about 17 minutes in this video clip.