Mackay in Australia hosted a one-day international again recently for the first time in 33 years. Was this a record gap for a single venue? asked Karthik Ramanan from India
The Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay staged two matches in Australia's recent off-season white-ball series against South Africa. The ground - formerly known as Harrup Park - had previously held just one men's international, the match between India and Sri Lanka during the 1992 World Cup. That one lasted only two balls before it rained, so the locals had to wait a long time for some meaningful cricket (men's, anyway; the ground has staged five women's white-ball internationals).
The 33-year gap between men's internationals is the second longest for any ground, and the identity of the first one is a bit of a surprise, considering the ground concerned had held its country's first Test: it's St George's Park in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth), which saw no international cricket between Tests against England in February 1914 and March 1949, a gap of more than 35 years.
Mackay lies second, but there's another slight surprise in third place: Edgbaston in Birmingham did not have an international match for nearly 28 years between 1929 and 1957. There were only Test matches back then, so no opportunities for occasional ODIs or T20Is.
The Bulawayo Athletic Club in Zimbabwe went more than 25 years without staging a men's international (1992-2018), while Essex's County Ground in Chelmsford went almost 24 years without one between the 1999 World Cup and Ireland's transplanted home series against Bangladesh in May 2023.
I noticed in On This Day that Richard Illingworth scored 13 in both innings of his Test debut. I'm assuming that two ducks is the most common such double, but what's the highest? asked David Cohen from Australia
Ten men managed a higher debut double than Richard Illingworth's brace of 13s against West Indies at Trent Bridge in July 1991. Highest of all was two 36s, by South Africa's Dan Taylor against England in Durban in February 1914. Dan was the younger brother of Herbie Taylor, one of South Africa's early greats, and their captain in that series.
Syed Abid Ali of India and Bangladesh's Soumya Sarkar both scored twin 33s on debut, while in the 19th century Bernard Tancred made two 29s in South Africa's very first Test, against England in Port Elizabeth in March 1889. The England pair of Arthur Carr and Mark Ramprakash both started their Test careers with two scores of 27.
You're right that a pair of ducks is the most frequent (and most unwanted) debut double: in all, 46 men and nine women have suffered this fate.
Who has bowled the most overs among Indian Test fast bowlers after 35 years of age? And who has taken the most wickets? asked Chetan Mishra from New Zealand
The fact is there haven't been many Indian fast bowlers aged 35 or more: top of the list is Lala Amarnath, with 28 wickets, followed by Zaheer Khan with 16 and Umesh Yadav with 12. Amarnath bowled the equivalent of 503 overs, Zaheer 195.3, and Yadav 124. Vijay Hazare bowled the equivalent of 199 overs at a fairly modest pace, and took only nine wickets.
If you lump in all Indian bowlers then Anil Kumble leads the way with 154 wickets after turning 35, while R Ashwin took 114 (note that this could exclude wickets taken in matches during which the player celebrated his 35th birthday).
Among pace bowlers worldwide, James Anderson took the remarkable total of 224 Test wickets after his 35th birthday, while Courtney Walsh had 180 and Richard Hadlee 116.
Which Test ground (which has staged more than ten matches) has the highest average runs per wicket? I'm thinking Adelaide Oval… or perhaps somewhere in Pakistan? asked Andrew Dowling from China
An interesting question, and your first guess is not far off: as this list shows, Adelaide Oval lies seventh overall, with an average of 35.07 runs per wicket, and it has staged many more Tests than the grounds above it - 83 so far, with Georgetown's Bourda Oval (36.26) next of those higher up, with 30 matches.
On top overall is the Antigua Recreation Ground, with an average of 38.47 runs per wicket from 22 Tests: next comes McLean Park in Napier, which just scrapes in with ten Tests, in which the average is 37.99. After Bourda (and not including Adelaide), there's a run of subcontinental grounds: Mumbai's Brabourne Stadium (36.07), Mohali (35.7), Chattogram (35.16), Lahore (35.05), Kanpur (34.9), Delhi (34.86), the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo (34.73), Rawalpindi (34.71) and Ahmedabad's Modi Stadium (34.5). The top English ground is Trent Bridge in Nottingham at 32.55.
I gather from Wisden that Shane Warne dismissed 236 different batsmen in his career. Is this a record? asked N Ravikanth from India
I suppose this is the opposite to last week's question about the bowler with the most unique wickets. You're right that Shane Warne dismissed 236 different batters in Tests, but the list is headed - as you might expect - by the overall leading wicket-taker, Muthiah Muralidaran. He's clearly fond of round numbers, as he took 800 wickets in all, made up of 300 different opponents.
Warne actually lies fourth on this list, also behind Anil Kumble, who dismissed 264 different batters, and James Anderson (263). He's just ahead of Stuart Broad (234).
Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo's stats team helped with some of the above answers.
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