Second-innings 300s, and how the women beat the men

Has anyone ever scored a triple-century in the second innings of a Test? asked Keith d'Souza

Only one player has managed this - Hanif Mohammad, the great Pakistan batsman, who made 337 in his side's second innings at Bridgetown in 1957-58. They totalled 657 for 8 declared after being bowled out for 106 and asked to follow on. Martin Crowe very nearly followed Hanif: he was out for 299 for New Zealand against Sri Lanka at Wellington in 1990-91. Both those big scores came in the third innings of the match: the record for the fourth innings is 223, by George Headley for West Indies against England at Kingston in 1929-30. Nathan Astle came within one run of that record when he smashed 222 for New Zealand against England at Christchurch in 2001-02. There have been three other fourth-innings double-centuries, by Sunil Gavaskar (221 at The Oval in 1979), Bill Edrich (219 at Durban in 1938-39) and Gordon Greenidge (214 not out at Lord's in 1984).

My sister claims that there was a women's World Cup before the men had one - is she right? asked Craig Turner from Sheffield

She is right: the first women's World Cup took place in England in 1973, two years before the men got round to it. The seven-team tournament was entirely in a league format. England, captained by Rachael Heyhoe-Flint, won it, beating Australia in what amounted to the final at Edgbaston.

I spotted that Australia played Tests against six different countries in 1999. Has any country ever played more different teams in a year than Australia? asked Awais Tanveer

That was indeed the first time any country had played Tests against six other teams in the course of a calendar year, a record equaled by Sri Lanka in 2001. But Pakistan broke the record the following year (2002), when they played Tests against seven different countries. Waqar Younis and Younis Khan played against all seven opponents, to set the individual record. In the one-day arena Pakistan played 11 different opponents in 1996, a number matched in another World Cup year, 2003, by Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Pakistan again. Ijaz Ahmed was the only man to play against all 11 opponents in 1996, but 19 others emulated him in 2003.

Have India ever played Tests against Bangladesh before this current series? asked Sunil Parekh from west London

The current Test was India's second against them: they were actually Bangladesh's opponents in their inaugural Test, at Dhaka in November 2000. Bangladesh started that match very well, running up a total of 400 - Aminul Islam made 145 - but they collapsed for 91 in their second innings, and India went on to win by nine wickets.

Three Australians were out in the nineties in the recent third Test against India. Was that a Test record? asked Arvind Chandran

The record is actually four, and England were involved both times: at Christchurch in 1991-92, when the unlucky men were Robin Smith (96) and Allan Lamb of England, and John Wright and Dipak Patel (both 99) for New Zealand. It happened again at The Oval in 1995, with the near-misses coming from Graeme Hick (96), Jack Russell (91) and Mike Atherton (95) for England, and Richie Richardson (93) for West Indies. In that match, Sherwin Campbell was also out for 89 and Shivnarine Chanderpaul for 80. On 12 occasions there have been three nineties in the same Test, including the match at Karachi in 1972-73 when Dennis Amiss, Majid Khan and Mushtaq Mohammad were all out for 99.

I know that David Hookes made his Test debut in the 1977 Centenary Test. Did anyone start their career in the 1980 Centenary Test at Lord's? asked Peter Walton from Keswick, Cumbria

The only debutant in that 1980 match at Lord's, which was staged to celebrate the centenary of Test cricket in England, was Bill Athey, the Yorkshire batsman who later played for Gloucestershire and Sussex as well. Athey's debut wasn't quite as memorable as Hookes's at Melbourne in 1977 - he had spanked Tony Greig for five successive fours on his way to 56 - as he made only 1 and 9 in his two innings.

Steven Lynch is editor of Wisden Cricinfo. For some of these answers he was helped by Travis Basevi, the man who built Stats Guru and the Wisden Wizard. If you want to Ask Steven a question, contact him through our feedback form. The most interesting questions will be answered each week in this column. Unfortunately, we can't usually enter into correspondence about individual queries.

The Wisden Cricket Quiz Book, compiled by Steven Lynch, was published on November 1 by John Wisden & Co., priced £7.99. To save £2 by ordering a copy through Cricshop, click here.