Two double-centuries at once, and lots of fifties

Had two Indians ever scored double-centuries in the same Test innings before, as happened at Delhi? asked Nitin Naik from Hyderabad, and many others
No, the performance by Gautam Gambhir and VVS Laxman in the third Test in Delhi was a first for India - and a first against Australia - although it was the 14th time overall that one Test innings had contained two individual scores of 200 or more. The most recent instance before this one came earlier this year, when South Africa's Neil McKenzie made 226 and Graeme Smith 232 during their world-record opening stand of 415 against Bangladesh in Chittagong.

Sachin Tendulkar made his 20th score of 50 or more in Tests against Australia at Delhi. Is this the record for fifties against a particular country? asked Jeremy Gilling from Australia
Rather surprisingly, it's not even terribly close: almost inevitably, Don Bradman of Australia tops the list - he made 31 scores of 50 or more (19 of them hundreds) against England. Allan Border passed 50 against England 29 times, while Steve Waugh managed 24. England's Jack Hobbs had 27 scores of 50 or more against Australia, while his long-time opening partner Herbert Sutcliffe made 24. Sachin Tendulkar's 68 in Delhi, incidentally, put him level with Border at the top of the Test list with 90 scores of 50 or more overall.

Is it true that Michael Vaughan is related to the famous Lancashire Tyldesley family? asked Brian Waddilove from Arundel
I'd forgotten this, if I ever knew it, but yes it is true: Michael Vaughan is related to the Tyldesleys. His great-grandmother on his mother Dee's side was the sister of Johnny and Ernest Tyldesley, who played 31 and 14 Tests respectively between 1899 and 1929.

I noticed that Salim Durani, the Indian Test cricketer, was born in Afghanistan. Is he the only Test player so far to have been born there? asked Sandip Dhole from the United States
The Indian allrounder Salim Durani, who won 29 Test caps, was indeed born in Afghanistan - in Kabul - in 1934, and he is the only Test cricketer so far to emerge from that country. The Durrani are apparently one of the largest tribes in Afghanistan, making up around a sixth of the population there.

Who had the most consecutive not-out innings in Tests? asked David Bradley from Huddersfield
Two players had a run of eight consecutive asterisks in Tests, and both of them were considered pretty hopeless batsmen, which just goes to show... The first was the West Indian spinner Alf Valentine, between 1957 and 1960-61 (he made 25 runs in five Tests in that time). His record was equalled by the New Zealand medium-pacer Ewen Chatfield, between 1983-84 and 1984-85. "Chats" made 38 runs in six Tests, and this run included a match-winning 21 not out (which remained his highest Test score) against Pakistan in Dunedin. Chatfield also had a run of seven successive not-out innings in the year from February 1987. Four other players, all of them confirmed No. 11s, have had a run of seven not-outs in a row: Cuan McCarthy of South Africa, Bill Johnston of Australia, Corey Collymore of West Indies, and Ishant Sharma of India, earlier this year.

When was the last time Australia lost three Test matches in a row? asked an optimistic Krishna Chaitanya from India
It was, as you probably guessed, quite a long time ago: in 1988-89 West Indies won three successive Tests in Australia, in Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne. Australia's record losing streak was in 1984, when they lost six matches in a row to West Indies, home and away.