Mahmood's famous cousin, and debut hat-tricks

In a recent quiz I was asked to name Sajid Mahmood's famous sporting relative - who is it? asked Terrence Conroy from Warrington

Sajid Mahmood, the Lancashire fast bowler who is tipped to make his Test debut for England against Sri Lanka at Lord's on Thursday, is the cousin of Amir Khan, the boxer who won the silver medal at lightweight in the 2004 Athens Olympics when he was only 17 - he lost to the defending champion, Cuba's Mario Kindelan, in the final. After avenging that defeat by Kindelan, Khan turned professional. In answer to another questioner, Mahmood won't be the first Pakistan-born cricketer to play in a Test for England - mainly because he was born in Bolton! Owais Shah, who made his Test debut for England at Mumbai in March, was born in Karachi, and not long before him Usman Afzaal was born in Rawalpindi.

Has anyone ever taken a hat-trick on his Test debut? asked Abishek Kumar

Three bowlers have done this so far. the first was Maurice Allom, the tall Surrey fast bowler, for England against New Zealand at Christchurch in 1929-30 - in fact he took four wickets in five balls as New Zealand slumped to 21 for 7. It was more than 46 years later that anyone emulated Allom - at Lahore in 1976-77 the New Zealand offspinner Peter Petherick took a hat-trick in his first Test, against Pakistan. And Pakistan were on the receiving end again in 1994-95, when Damien Fleming did it for Australia at Rawalpindi. The third man in Fleming's hat-trick was Salim Malik, who had scored 237. For a full list of Test hat-tricks, click here.

Who was the first captain to score a Test triple-century? Was it Don Bradman? asked Alex Hysong from Sydney

For once, Don Bradman isn't the answer to a question like this: both his Test triple-centuries came while Bill Woodfull was skipper. The first Test captain to pass 300 was another Australian, Bob Simpson, who made 311 against England at Old Trafford in 1964. Remarkably, that was Simpson's first Test hundred, in his 30th match (and 52nd innings). Since then Graham Gooch and Mark Taylor have also made Test triple-centuries while captain - and Brian Lara leads the way with his 400 not out against England at St John's in 2003-04. For a longer list of the highest scores by Test captains, click here.

I recently read about Dilip Doshi's bowling figures of 8-7-1-1 in a Sunday League match in England. Are these the most economical in a limited-overs match? asked Rajesh Sanghvi

Doshi's remarkable figures came for Nottinghamshire against Northamptonshire (who were bowled out for just 43) at Northampton in 1977. Almost as remarkable as his figures is the fact that Doshi was left out of the side for Nottinghamshire's next one-day game, as Gideon Haigh mentioned in a recent Odd Men In article. But even Doshi's figures aren't quite the most economical. In 1969, the first season of the Sunday League, Somerset's offspinner and captain Brian Langford bowled his eight overs against Essex at Yeovil without conceding a run - amazing figures of 8-8-0-0. Wisden duly noted: "A remarkable bowl by Langford, mostly at [Brian] Ward, comprised eight successive maidens." Somerset won by two wickets with five balls to spare.

I see that Zimbabwe have managed eight Test wins - how many of them were against Bangladesh? asked Johnny Miller

Zimbabwe have won eight of their 83 Tests to date - and four of those wins have come at the expense of Bangladesh. The other wins have been against India - at Harare in 1998-99 and at Harare again in 2001 - and against Pakistan, at Harare in 1994-95 and at Peshawar in 1998-99 (their solitary away win).

There's an afterthought about last week's column, from Mike Holmans

"There was another English cricketer with seven initials: George Arthur Adam Septimus Carter Trenchard Sale Pennington, who played 12 matches for Northamptonshire in 1927, although he only admitted to GA Pennington for scorecard purposes. Seems to have been the kind of amateur who came in at about No. 7 and hit the ball as hard as he could until he got out - the cheerful death-or-glory type."