Murali's favourite grounds, and an expensive drop

The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket:

Muttiah Muralitharan is first, second, and third on the list of bowlers with more than 50 wickets at a single venue © AFP

Recently Murali got his 100th Test wicket at Kandy. He already has 143 at the SSC, which I am sure is a world record. Am I correct in saying he is also in third place, with 87 at Galle? asked Mohammad Imthinal from Sri Lanka

Yes, all that is correct: Muttiah Muralitharan is the only bowler to have taken 100 wickets at a single ground, with 143 at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo and 108 at Kandy's Asgiriya Stadium. And he also lies third on this list with 87 at Galle. Next comes Heath Streak of Zimbabwe, with 83 wickets in 19 Tests at the Harare Sports Club, one ahead of Dennis Lillee, who took 82 in 14 matches at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. For a full list of bowlers who have taken 50 or more wickets at a single ground, click here.

What is Victor Fuller Eberle's claim to sporting fame? asked Christopher Langford from Reading

Victor Fuller Eberle never appeared in first-class cricket, although he was a useful rugby player. His claim to fame is to have dropped probably the most expensive catch in cricket history: as the youngest player (at 11) in a junior house match at Bristol's Clifton College in June 1899, he dropped the 13-year-old AEJ Collins, who went on to score 628 not out, the highest score known in any form of organised cricket. The 1975 Wisden carried a brief obituary of Eberle, which says he dropped Collins at 20, so his lapse would have cost 608 runs if that is true. However, there is some doubt about when, and how often, Collins was actually dropped: this account on Cricinfo has him being put down at 50, 100, 140, 556, 605 and 619. Another report talks of Eberle dropping Collins when he had 400. The most expensive drop in first-class cricket was perpetrated by the Durham wicketkeeper Chris Scott, who put down Warwickshire's Brian Lara when he had 18 in their Championship match at Edgbaston in 1994. "I suppose he'll get a hundred now," said Scott ... and Lara did. He actually went on to 501 not out, the highest innings in first-class history: poor Scott's fumble cost 483 runs. You can find out more about Victor Fuller Eberle, including some pictures of him, on this website.

What is the highest total in a innings in a County Championship match? asked Brendan Murphy from Ireland

The highest total ever made in the County Championship is 887, by Yorkshire against Warwickshire at Edgbaston in 1896. It featured four individual centuries, including career-bests of 210 not out by the England slow left-armer Bobby Peel and 166 from Lord Hawke, who came in at No. 9. There have been ten higher totals in all first-class cricket, two of them in Tests - England's 903 for 7 declared against Australia at The Oval in 1938 (the highest total in a first-class match in England), and the Test-record 952 for 6 declared by Sri Lanka against India in Colombo in 1997-98.

Which cricketer wrote a book called Christmas in Rarotonga? asked Jamie Spencer from London

This was the autobiography of John Wright, the New Zealand opener, whose book was published by Moa in New Zealand in 1990. Wright admitted he'd never actually spent Christmas in Rarotonga, which is one of the Cook Islands in the South Pacific, but there had been a time in his career when it seemed like a good idea - during a tour of India when half the side was injured or ill. Wright wrote the book (which he dedicated to "my thigh pad") ten years before becoming India's coach in 2000.

Who was the first man to reach a Test hundred with a six? I remember Ken Barrington making a speciality of this, asked Ernest Cooper from Lincoln

The first recorded instance of a batsman reaching a hundred in a Test with a six was by Australia's Joe Darling in 1897-98, when he got to three figures with a six off Johnny Briggs of England at Adelaide. In those days to score six the batsman had to hit the ball out of the ground, not just over the ropes: this six by Darling was the first such hit in Test cricket, and he managed two more later in his innings of 178. At The Oval in 1893, England's Stanley Jackson reached his hundred with a hit over the ropes, which would be worth six today but then earned him only four runs. England's Ken Barrington reached three Test centuries with a six, as have Sri Lanka's Aravinda de Silva, Brian Lara of West Indies, and India's Sachin Tendulkar.

What is the most centuries scored in an innings, and in a match? asked Saleem Mukuddem from Bermuda

First of all, it's nice to get a query from an international player, assuming that you're this particular Saleem Mukuddem from Bermuda! The answer is that there have been two Test innings which included five individual centuries. The first was Australia's 758 for 8 declared at Kingston in 1954-55. After West Indies made 357, the Aussies slumped to 7 for 2 ... but then Colin McDonald made 127, Neil Harvey 204, Keith Miller 109, Ron Archer 128 and Richie Benaud 121 (he reached his hundred in 78 minutes, the third-fastest in all Tests). Australia went on to win by an innings despite Clyde Walcott scoring two hundreds in the game, taking his tally to a record five in the series. The second instance came at Multan in August 2001, when five players made more than 100 - but none passed 110 - as Pakistan made 546 for 3 declared against Bangladesh. The century-makers were Saeed Anwar (101), Taufeeq Umar (104), Inzamam-ul-Haq (105 retired hurt), Yousuf Youhana (102 not out) and Abdul Razzaq (110 not out). In first-class cricket the record for one innings is six hundreds, scored by Holkar during their 912 for 8 declared against Mysore in the Ranji Trophy semi-final at Indore in 1945-46. The record for a first-class match is nine, which has happened twice in India: first in the game between Maharashtra (four hundreds) and Bombay (five) at Poona in 1948-49 (Sunil Gavaskar's uncle Madhav Mantri made 200), and then by West Zone (six) and South Zone (three) in the Duleep Trophy final at Bombay in 1986-87. The Test record is eight, by West Indies and South Africa (four each) at St John's in 2004-05.