Most hundreds in a year, and a Kenyan record

Who has scored the most centuries in Test matches in a calendar year? asked Kamran Zahid from the United States

The record is seven, shared by the West Indian Viv Richards and Aravinda de Silva of Sri Lanka. Richards scored seven centuries in 11 Tests in 1976, the year he set the overall record for runs in a calendar year, with 1710. de Silva equalled the mark in 1997, also in 11 Tests: six of his seven hundreds were scored in Colombo (the other one was in Chandigarh, in India). Watch out for Mohammad Yousuf, who has scored six centuries so far in 2006, and Ricky Ponting, who has scored five in six Tests this year to date. For a full list of the highest runscorers in a calendar year, click here

Is it true that the highest opening partnership in ODIs is held by two Kenyans? asked Philip Goulter from New Zealand

The Kenyan openers Deepak Chudasama (122) and Kennedy Otieno (144) put on 225 against Bangladesh at the Nairobi Gymkhana in October 1997. That was a new one-day international record at the time, but remained so for less than a year - Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar shared a stand of 252 against Sri Lanka in Colombo in July 1998. The record now is 286, set by Upul Tharanga and Sanath Jayasuriya for Sri Lanka against England at Headingley in July 2006.

How many first-class matches had Jeff Thomson played before the 1974-75 Ashes series? Was his selection really as surprising as people make it out to be? asked Andy Rashleigh from Leeds

The super-fast Jeff Thomson was not entirely an unknown quantity when he was unleashed on England in the first Test of the 1974-75 Ashes series at Brisbane. For a start, he had played a Test before - against Pakistan at Melbourne in 1972-73 - although he went into that match with an injury, and failed to take a wicket. That was only his seventh first-class match, but because of injury he played only four more before surprising England at the Gabba.

Is there a player who played for two different teams (for example, India and Pakistan) during his Test career? asked Harshal Vora from the United States

There are 14 men who have appeared for two different countries in Test cricket (this excludes the World XI players who played in the Super Series Test in Australia last year). Three of those played for India before moving to Pakistan after Partition. They were Amir Elahi, AH Kardar (who played for India as "A. Hafeez"), and Gul Mohammad. There are also five players who have played for both England and Australia: Billy Midwinter, who uniquely played for both sides against each other, and Jack Ferris, Billy Murdoch, Albert Trott and Sammy Woods, who played for England against South Africa after playing for the Aussies against England. The other two-country men are Frank Hearne and Frank Mitchell (England and South Africa), the Nawab of Pataudi senior (England and India), Sammy Guillen (West Indies and New Zealand), Kepler Wessels (Australia and South Africa) and John Traicos (South Africa and Zimbabwe). For a full list (including those World XI players), click here.

Which Test captain was also an Olympic Boxing gold medallist? asked Tim Jameson from Coventry

This was Essex's John Douglas - whose initials JWHT led to him being nicknamed "Johnny Won't Hit Today" when he batted defensively in Australia - who captained England in 18 of his 23 Tests, including the 1911-12 and 1920-21 Ashes series Down Under. In 1908, Douglas won the middleweight boxing title at the London Olympics, beating another renowned allround sportsman, Reginald "Snowy" Baker from Australia, in the final. Douglas drowned in 1930, trying to save his father's life when their ship sank in the North Sea.

I recently did the Lord's tour when I was in London, during which they talked about the only player to bat and bowl on both innings of a Test match on the same day. Could you help me with what match it was and when it happened? asked Rob Cohen from Australia

The player concerned was Courtney Walsh, and the match was at Lord's, during West Indies' 2000 series in England. Walsh was one of the not-out batsmen at the end of the first day, but was out to the first ball of the second, which also ended West Indies' first innings. He then took 4 for 43 as England were bowled out for 143, but was called upon to bat again as West Indies collapsed to 54 all out, their lowest score against England at that point. There was time for seven balls that evening in England's second innings, and Walsh bowled one of them to complete his unique set. This was the first Test match in which part of all four innings took place on one day of the game (England squeaked home to win the match by two wickets the next day). It happened again, as reader Rajiv pointed out, at Hamilton in December 2002, when Ashish Nehra and Tinu Yohannan of India repeated Walsh's feat against New Zealand.