How many England openers have bagged a pair in Australia?

Simon Harmer took 17 wickets at less than nine apiece in the recent series in India. Has anyone taken more in a series at a lower average?asked Kelvin Phillips from South Africa
The South African offspinner Simon Harmer took 17 wickets at 8.94 in the recent 2-0 victory in India, figures that put him in rarefied company: only six bowlers have taken more wickets at a lower average in a series in which they played at least two Tests - and no one has done it since England's Tony Lock took 34 wickets at just 7.47 against New Zealand at home in 1958.

Lowest of all dates from South Africa's first-ever Test series, at home in 1888-89: England's Johnny Briggs took 21 wickets at just 4.80. Seven years later another England bowler, George Lohmann, took advantage of some more inexperienced South Africans to take 35 wickets at 5.80 in a three-match series.

No one has taken more wickets at a lower average in any series in India (again playing in a minimum of two Tests): Jasprit Bumrah took ten at 9.00 apiece against Sri Lanka in 2021-22. In third place is Marco Jansen, with 12 at 10.08 in the just-finished series.

Aiden Markram took nine catches in the second Test against India. Was this a record for a non-wicketkeeper? asked Tim Vallance from England
South Africa's Aiden Markram, who was playing in his 50th Test, took nine catches in the demolition of India in Guwahati last week, all of them in the slips (although two required a dive into the gully area). It was a record for an outfielder in a Test, beating the eight of India's Ajinkya Rahane against Sri Lanka in Galle in 2015. There are also seven cases of seven.

Markram's feat has been bettered only once in first-class cricket: in 1928, the England batter Wally Hammond caught ten in a County Championship match against Surrey at Cheltenham. It was definitely Hammond's match: he also scored 139 and 143 in a comfortable win. In the next match at the college ground, he took 9 for 23 and 6 for 105 against Worcestershire, and scored 80 in an innings victory.

There are two other instances of nine outfield catches in a first-class match: by Warwickshire's Rikki Clarke against Lancashire in Liverpool in 2011, and Peter Handscomb for Victoria against Tasmania at St Kilda in Melbourne in March 2022.

How many England openers have bagged a pair in Australia, as Zak Crawley did in Perth? asked Nick Jones from England
Zak Crawley's run-less double in the Ashes opener in Perth was only the fourth time an England opener has bagged a pair in a Test in Australia, and the first since Mike Atherton in Melbourne in 1998, in a match England still won. The others were Dennis Amiss, courtesy of Dennis Lillee in Adelaide in 1975, and Trevor Bailey, dismissed twice by Ray Lindwall in what turned out to be his last Test, in Melbourne in 1959.

Overall there have been just nine cases of an England opener bagging a pair in a Test, two of them by the unfortunate Atherton.

India have lost five home Tests in a row. When was the last time this happened? asked Maneck Bholl from India
Well, first of all India haven't lost five in a row: in between the 3-0 defeat by New Zealand last season and the recent 2-0 reverse at South Africa's hands, they overpowered West Indies in two Tests in Ahmedabad and Delhi in October. In fact India have never lost five in a row at home: their worst run is three, against New Zealand at the end of last year, England in 1976-77, Australia (two in 1969-70) and England (one in 1972-73), and West Indies in 1958-59.

Away from home India lost seven consecutive Tests in England in 1967 and Australia in 1967-68. They lost six in a row in 1959, including a 5-0 defeat in England (England's only such whitewash). Recent successes mean India have now won 185 of their 598 Tests, with 188 defeats to go with 224 draws (plus one tie).

In a recent one-day international against Sri Lanka, Pakistan delivered 26 wides but still won. Was this a record? asked Fahad Ali
The match you're talking about was the first ODI in Rawalpindi last month: despite conceding 26 in wides, Pakistan won by six runs in the end. It's actually not a record: Australia beat New Zealand in Pune in 2003 despite donating 32 runs in wides, as did the United Arab Emirates against Papua New Guinea in Windhoek in 2023. There's also two cases of winning despite conceding 31 wides: by India against Kenya in Bristol during the 1999 World Cup, and Pakistan against India in Mohali in 2007.

There are some higher numbers in women's ODIs: in three matches in 2001, the Netherlands conceded 56, 52 and 45 wides against Pakistan - but won all three games. At Merrion in Dublin in 2004, New Zealand gave away 43 runs in wides, but still beat Ireland; and in Dambulla in 2016, Australia defeated Sri Lanka despite conceding 41 wides.

And there's some updates to a recent question about umpires' early decisions, from Charles Davis in Australia and Ashru Mitra in India:
There are a few refinements to the list of those who had to give a batter out from their first ball in a Test, as mentioned in this recent column. The man who gave Herbert Sutcliffe out from the first ball of England's Test against New Zealand in Christchurch in March 1933 was Richard Torrance. His colleague was Thomas Burgess, also standing in his first Test, and from the first ball at his end Eddie Paynter was bowled.

There was a curious incident in Port-of-Spain in March 1971, when the West Indian opener Roy Fredericks was dismissed by the first ball of the match, from India's Abid Ali. The debutant umpire Stuart Ishmael gave Fredericks out lbw, but then noticed the bails had been dislodged, so he was recorded as bowled.

Finally the umpire in the South Africa-India Test in Durban in November 1992 was Cyril Mitchley, not Karl Liebenberg: they were alternating on the field (partnering Steve Bucknor) in what was South Africa's first home Test for nearly 23 years. Jimmy Cook edged Kapil Dev's first ball of the match into the slips, where Sachin Tendulkar took a catch. It seems, from Cook's own account, that although Mitchley was at square leg he did have to rule on whether the ball had hit the ground before it reached Tendulkar: to Cook's horror, he decided it had not.