Heather Knight and Shafali Verma both recently missed out on their women's Test debuts. How many people has this happened to? asked Jonathan White from Australia
They both reduced centuries in Bristol last week, but England captain Heather Knight was actually playing her seventh Test match - she scored 157 in her second Test against Australia at Wormsley in 2013. But India's Shafali Verma, who scored an impressive 96, missed out on becoming the 13th woman to score a century on Test debut and the youngest at 17. For that list.
Verma was the eighth woman to score on her Test debut in the nineties (one of them was not out). The most unlucky was probably Australia's Jess Jonassen, who was dismissed for 99 against England at Canterbury in 2015.
I know that Seymour Nurse has the highest score by anyone on his last test. But is it also the record for anyone's last first-class match? asked Jamie Keitel from England
Indeed, the highest score by a player in his final Test was Andy Sandham's 325 for England against the West Indies at Kingston in 1929–30; Seymour Nurse's 258 runs for the West Indies against New Zealand at Christchurch in 1968–69 is the final Test innings record. Both Sandham and Nurse played more first-class cricket after their final Test.
As I write, there are some 20 men who scored a double century in their last first-class match, although half of them are current players who will likely reappear. Only one man has scored a triple century, which proved to be his last first-class appearance: Sam Agarwal scored an unbeaten 313 for Oxford University against Cambridge University in a varsity match at Fenner in 2013.
Other notable farewells included Fred Bakewell's unbeaten 241 to ensure that Northamptonshire drew with eventual champions Derbyshire at Chesterfield in August 1936. On his way home after the match, the car in which Bakewell was traveling was involved in a serious road accident: his teammate Reggie Northway was killed and Bakewell suffered a hand injury that allowed him to resume first-class cricket. Couldn't play
Entertaining Sri Lankan batsman Aravinda de Silva ended his first-class career in a Test match - and scored 206 against Bangladesh in Colombo in 2002.
A sad entry on this list is Norman Callaway, who was only 18 when he scored 207 runs for close to a minute during his first-class debut for New South Wales against Queensland in Sydney in February 1915 – but two years A little more than later he was killed in France during the Great War, in what remained to be his only first-class innings.
Kiran More once stumped six batsmen in Tests. Has anyone else done this, and what is a first class record? Chetan Sarwate from India asked
Indian wicketkeeper Kiran More made six stumpings in the 1987–88 match against West Indies at Madras (now Chennai). Five of them came from the bowling of legspinner Narendra Hirwani, who was on his way to record Test-debut figures of 16 for 136.
More's run remains the record for Tests - another Indian keeper, Khokhan Sen, scored five runs against England in 1951–52, also in Madras - but the figure has been exceeded several times in first-class cricket. A total of nine stumpings in a match is held by Fred Hugh of Kent against Surrey at The Oval in 1911. The controversial Ted Polley also made eight stumpings at The Oval for Surrey against Kent in 1878.
In Pakistan's second innings at Karachi in 2005–06, all seven batsmen reached 50. Was it unique in the test? Muralidhar from India asked
The top seven batsmen made at least 50 (Faisal Iqbal 139) in Pakistan's second innings at Karachi in 2005–06. The only man to reach the crease was Kamran Akmal, who faced only one ball before Younis Khan made 599 for 7. After Pakistan won by 341 runs - a result that was unlikely for the Indian - Armor Irfan Pathan started the match with a hat-trick in the first over.
The top seven to reach 50 are truly unique, but there are two other Test innings that include seven scores of 50 or more: England scored 627 for 9 against Australia at Old Trafford in 1934, and saved the match at Lord's. For Sri Lanka scored 537 runs for 9 wickets. in 2006.
I heard that a first-class cricketer played Euro Cup football for Scotland. Is it true? Debapriya Chakraborty from India asked
I think the person you are talking about is Andy Gorham, the goalkeeper from Scotland who won 43 international caps in football and also played cricket for the Scottish national team before he had official ODI status. He disobeyed the Hibernian FC manager's instructions and went out against the Australian tourists in Glasgow in 1989 – and was immediately fined upon his return to the football club.
Gorham later had several successful seasons with Rangers, one of Scotland's leading football clubs. He played in the European Championships in 1992 and 1996, and was also part of Scotland's squad for the 1986 and 1990 World Cups, although he did not make it on the field.