Harry Brook has scored three centuries in his first six Test innings. How many others have done this? asked Brian Robinson from England
England's new batting star
Harry Brook is only the fifth player - and the first Englishman - to have scored three hundreds in his first six Test innings.
Mohammad Azharuddin leads the way: he made three centuries in his first four innings (he's the only man to score hundreds in his first three Tests). Azhar's fourth hundred came in his 25th Test innings for India.
Tagenarine Chanderpaul top-scored in both innings in Adelaide with an aggregate of only 64 runs. Is this the lowest number for a player top-scoring in both innings of a Test? asked Sharan Samarawickrama on Facebook
Tagenarine Chanderpaul, in only his second Test, was indeed West Indies' top scorer in both innings of their heavy defeat
in Adelaide earlier this month. Rather surprisingly perhaps, his match aggregate of 64 runs - 47 and 17 - comes in only joint ninth on this particular list (considering only matches in which a team was bowled out twice). On top is
Frank Hearne, who top-scored with 24 and 23 for South Africa against England
in Cape Town in 1891-92.
Arjun Tendulkar recently emulated his famous father by scoring a century on first-class debut. Have any other father-and-son pairings done this? asked Mahesh Bhandari from India
Arjun Tendulkar, batting at No. 7 for Goa, scored 120 on his first-class debut last week against Rajasthan in a Ranji Trophy match
in Porvorim. Back in 1988-89, the 15-year-old
Sachin Tendulkar started his career with 100 not out against Gujarat at the Wankhede Stadium
in Bombay (now Mumbai).
Three other fathers and sons have started their first-class careers with centuries - and it's largely an Indian specialty.
Babubhai Patel scored 131 (after a duck in the first innings) for Bombay against Western India
in Poona in 1935-36, and his son
Yogendra Patel hit 101 not out for Mysore vs Hyderabad
in Secunderabad in 1961-62.
The Indian Test opener
Pankaj Roy made 112 not out on his first-class debut, aged 17, for Bengal against United Provinces
in Calcutta in 1946-47, while his son
Pranab Roy - also a Test opener - hit 104 in his first match for Bengal, against Assam
in Dibrugarh in 1978-79.
And two more Test players - one for India, the other for Pakistan - produced the other instance.
Jahangir Khan made 108 for Muslims against Hindus
in Lahore in 1928-29, and his son
Majid Khan hit 111 not out for Lahore B against Khairpur
in Lahore in 1961-62. Both were in their teens when they made their debuts; Majid was only 15 at the time, and had earlier taken 6 for 67. Majid's son
Bazid Khan, also a Test player, couldn't continue the sequence: he was out for 13 in the only innings of his debut, for Lahore in 1997-98.
Rehan Ahmed became the youngest man to play a Test for England in Karachi. But which woman was younger when she made her England Test debut? asked Lucia Lagunas Reyes from the Netherlands
You're right that the Leicestershire legspinner
Rehan Ahmed became England's youngest Test cricketer in the third Test against Pakistan
in Karachi last weekend; at 18 years 126 days, he was 23 days younger than
Brian Close, the only other 18-year-old to play for England, against New Zealand
at Old Trafford in 1949.
The leaders here date from the era before one-day internationals. Top of the list is
Brian Close, who made his Test debut in 1949 (as we've seen above, he was England's youngest Test player until last weekend), and captained England in three one-day internationals in 1972, some 23 years later. The Worcestershire left-arm spinner
Norman Gifford made his Test debut in 1964, and almost 21 years later was a rather surprising choice as England's captain when some senior players were rested for a one-day tournament
in Sharjah in March 1985.
Bob Simpson made his Test debut for Australia in December 1957, and played his first ODI over 20 years later in February 1978. The England offspinner
Fred Titmus won his first Test cap in June 1955, and played his first ODI in March 1975. And the great
Garry Sobers made his Test debut at 17 in March 1954, and played what turned out to be his only one-day international 19.5 years later, against England
at Headingley in 1973.
Of people whose Test debut came during the time ODIs were being played, the longest wait is by the New Zealand fast bowler
Kerry Walmsley, who won his first Test cap in March 1995 and played his first ODI more than eight and a half years later in November 2003. That's unless you count
John Traicos, who made his Test debut for South Africa in February 1970 (about a year before the inaugural one-day international), and played his first ODIs more than 13 years later, for Zimbabwe, during
the 1983 World Cup. I could have made it clearer last week that I was talking about ODI debut then first Test, so apologies if anyone was confused by that.
Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo's stats team helped with some of the above answers.