Was Milan Rathnayake's 74 in Manchester the highest on Test debut from No. 9?

There were 11 ducks in the second Test between West Indies and South Africa. Was this a record? asked Jamie Greaves from England
You're right that there were 11 ducks in the recent match in Providence, four for West Indies and seven for South Africa (two by Keshav Maharaj, who bagged a pair). That actually equalled the Test record: there have now been 14 cases of 11 in a match, the first in an Ashes Test at Old Trafford in August 1888, and the most recent instance by Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in Mirpur in May 2022.

South Africa's seven ducks in the match was two short of the Test record. There have been three cases of nine by a team in the same Test: by Sri Lanka against India in Chandigarh in 1990-91, West Indies vs Australia in Brisbane in 2000-01, and Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka in Mirpur in 2022.

Keshav Maharaj was dismissed three times in the recent Test series in the West Indies without scoring a single run. What's the most a batter has been dismissed in a series without scoring a run? asked Gavin Truter from England
Keshav Maharaj was the 11th man to bat three times in a Test series and be out for a duck each time. Probably the most surprising name among the others is England's Ben Stokes, in the home series against India in 2014.

Only two men have batted four times in a Test series and been out for a duck each time: Pat Pocock for England vs West Indies in 1984, and Nuwan Pradeep for Sri Lanka vs Pakistan in the UAE in 2017-18. Four others have been dismissed for four ducks in a series: Iqbal Qasim for Pakistan in England in 1978, Danny Morrison for New Zealand in Australia in 1993-94, Phil Tufnell for England in Australia in 1994-95, and Dinanath Ramnarine for West Indies in Sri Lanka in 2001-02. Ramnarine actually batted six times, and had two 0 not outs to go with his four ducks. For the list, click here (note that this includes not-outs).

The most ducks by anyone in a single Test series is six, by the Australian fast bowler Alan Hurst in the six-match Ashes series of 1978-79. He did score 44 runs in his other innings in the series though.

Did I hear correctly that Milan Rathnayake's 74 in Manchester was the highest on Test debut from No. 9? asked Anura de Silva from Sri Lanka
I was surprised to discover that it was true: Milan Rathnayake made 74 on his debut for Sri Lanka last week at Old Trafford, beating the previous record of 71 on debut from No. 9, by India's Balwinder Singh Sandhu against Pakistan in Hyderabad in 1982-83.

My slight surprise was because I knew there had been some debut centuries from low in the order, but it turns out that these came from even further down - No. 10! Australia's Reggie Duff made 104 from there against England in Melbourne in 1901-02, and many years later Bangladesh's Abul Hasan smacked 113 not out on debut against West Indies in Khulna in 2012-13. New Zealand's Tim Southee clouted 77 not out - with nine sixes - on his debut, against England in Napier in 2007-08. He's played 99 more Tests since and has still not beaten that score. Duff was a recognised batter going in down the order - he opened in most of his later Tests - but the others were genuine bowlers.

The highest score by a No. 11 on Test debut remains 98, by Ashton Agar for Australia against England at Trent Bridge in 2013. No one else has reached 50 on debut after going in last.

I noticed that in the T20 WC final in 2014, all 22 players either batted or bowled, but no one did both. Was this unique? asked Edwin Kimberly Arockiam from India
That's a good spot! In the T20 World Cup final in Mirpur in April 2014, India made 130 for 4, with only five batters making it to the crease since Virat Kohli was run out from the last ball of the innings. The other six Indian players then bowled as Sri Lanka won by scoring 134 for 4 - but the five players who didn't bat all bowled.

This was unique at the time, but it has happened in three T20 internationals since: the matches between India and West Indies in Chennai in 2018-19, Ireland vs Afghanistan in Belfast in 2022, and New Zealand vs Pakistan in the semi-final of the T20 World Cupin Sydney in November 2022. It has never happened in men's ODIs, or women's white-ball internationals.

I spotted that Joe Root opened the bowling in three ODIs in 2014, and it set me wondering if he'd opened the batting and bowling in all three international formats. Alas, T20 batting is missing for him, but has anybody else done this? asked Sam Hurst from England
Only six men have opened the batting and bowling in Tests, one-day and T20Is. Three of them - Irfan Pathan of India, Mohammad Hafeez of Pakistan and Tillakaratne Dilshan of Sri Lanka - did it at least once in the same match in all three formats. The other three, who completed the set in different games, are Glenn Maxwell of Australia, Shoaib Malik of Pakistan, and Sikandar Raza of Zimbabwe.