How many bowlers have taken their first three international wickets in a hat-trick?

Shehan Madushanka's first three international wickets came courtesy of a hat-trick on debut. Has anyone else done this? asked Manoj Arya from India
The Sri Lanka medium-pacer Shehan Madushanka collected a hat-trick on his international debut, against Bangladesh in the final of a tri-series in Mirpur in 2018. Remarkably, that was Madushanka's only ODI, although he did play a couple of T20Is shortly afterwards.

The other man to have taken his first three international wickets via an ODI hat-trick is another Sri Lankan, the legspinner Wanindu Hasaranga, to end Zimbabwe's innings during his third over in Galle in 2017.

South Africa's Kagiso Rabada took a hat-trick in the second over of his ODI debut on his way to 6 for 16 against Bangladesh in Mirpur in 2015, but he had already played four T20Is. Michael Bracewell of New Zealand and Pakistan's Mohammad Hasnain also took their first T20I wickets during a hat-trick, but had previously taken wickets in other formats. Taijul Islam, the Bangladesh slow left-armer, also took a hat-trick on his ODI debut, against Zimbabwe in Mirpur in 2014, but had taken another wicket earlier in that innings.

The only man to do this in a Test was the 34-year-old New Zealand offspinner Peter Petherick, whose first three wickets on debut against Pakistan in Lahore in 1976 came via a distinguished hat-trick - Javed Miandad for 163, then Wasim Raja and Intikhab Alam for ducks.

In T20Is, the Australian seamer Nathan Ellis took a hat-trick on debut with the last three balls of Bangladesh's innings in Mirpur in 2021 (his only wickets that day). The Indian-born seamer Jaskaran Singh took a debut hat-trick for Canada against Bermuda in George Town (Cayman Islands) in 2025. And in December last year 39-year-old Lansana Lamin of Sierra Leone finished off Rwanda's innings in Abuja (Nigeria) with a hat-trick: it was actually his 42nd T20I, but he had bowled in only three of his previous games, and not taken a wicket.

But pride of place has to go to the Kuwait medium-pacer Shakrukh Quddus, who claimed a hat-trick of lbws with the first three balls of his international career, against Bahrain in Al-Amerat (Oman) in 2022.

Abhishek Sharma made 68 from 20 deliveries against New Zealand without a single dot ball. Is this the highest score by an individual without a dot, and maybe the longest such innings too? asked Kshitij Mehta from the United States
Abhishek Sharma's unbeaten 68 against New Zealand in Guwahati last week was indeed the highest score in T20Is known not to include a single dot ball (there are some innings for which we do not have full details, but it seems unlikely there is a higher score). The previous record was 59 not out (19 balls), by Tanzania's Kassim Nassoro against Cameroon in Kigali (Rwanda) in 2021.

Abhishek's 20-ball innings is the joint-longest without a dot. Shoaib Malik also scored off each of the 20 deliveries he faced in making 40 not out for Pakistan against Australia in Mohali during the 2016 T20 World Cup.

In women's T20Is, England's Katherine Sciver-Brunt made a dot-free 42 not out against South Africa in Taunton in 2018, while Katey Martin of New Zealand scored off each of the 18 balls she received in making 37 not out against Australia in Melbourne during the 2020 World Cup. Again, note that we do not have full details for all matches.

What's the latest over to be a maiden in a T20 international, especially the World Cup? Has the 19th or 20th ever been a maiden? asked Vinod Iyer from New Zealand
There have been 18 innings in T20Is in which the 20th over was a maiden - but only one of those came during a World Cup. This was a remarkable display from Mohammad Amir for Pakistan in St Lucia in 2010: Australia started that final over with 191 for 5, but lost five wickets and failed to add to the score. The over went as follows: Brad Haddin caught; Mitchell Johnson yorked; Michael Hussey run out; Steven Smith run out; dot ball to Shaun Tait; Tait bowled.

There are two further instances of the 19th over being a maiden in a World Cup match - by Bangladesh's Mustafizur Rahman to Dipendra Singh Airee of Nepal in St Vincent in June 2024, and by India's Jasprit Bumrah to Noor Ahmad of Afghanistan in Barbados four days later. The Afghans did manage a leg-bye off the last ball of that over.

I noticed that when England scored 363 for 7 in an ODI against Pakistan in 1992, Mushtaq Ahmed bowled a maiden. What are the highest one-day and T20 international totals that included a maiden? asked Richard Carroll from Canada
Rather surprisingly, perhaps, there are ten innings of over 400 in one-day internationals that included at least one maiden. Easily the highest is England's 481 for 6 against Australia at Trent Bridge in 2018, which included an early maiden from Jhye Richardson, whose other nine overs cost 92. England's score was a record at the time, and is still the second-highest total in ODIs.

In second place is Australia's 434 for 4 in the famous match in Johannesburg in 2006, which South Africa managed to win by making 438 for 9: the 14th over of Australia's innings - Roger Telemachus' first - was a maiden, although it did include a leg-bye.

The highest total in T20Is to include a maiden is Turkey's 237 all out against Bulgaria in Sofia in 2025: 16-year-old Joshua Dowling, the eighth bowler used, started with a double-wicket maiden, and finished with figures of 2-1-1-3.

When India made 234 for 2 against Zimbabwe in Harare in 2024, Blessing Muzarabani's first over - the second of the innings - was a maiden that contained the wicket of Shubman Gill.

The old England batter Raman Subba Row scored three Test centuries, but ended up with fewer than 1000 runs. Has anyone else done this? asked Bhargav Mitra from India
You're right that the England left-hander Raman Subba Row's 984 Test runs included three centuries (he made hundreds in his first and last Ashes Tests). But he's only 11th on this particular list: the fewest career runs for anyone who made three Test centuries is 575, by England's Ravi Bopara. His highest score apart from the hundreds - which came in successive innings against West Indies during 2009 - was 44 not out.

The old South African captain Alan Melville made four Test centuries - in consecutive innings against England in 1938-39 and 1947 - but finished up with just 894 runs in 11 matches. And the Essex opener Jack Russell ended his ten-Test career with 910 runs but no fewer than five centuries, two of them in his final match, against South Africa in Durban in February 1923.