The magician who tricked The Don

Which member of the Magic Circle bowled Don Bradman for a duck in a Test? asked Tom Ware

It was Bill Bowes, of Yorkshire, who bowled The Don at Melbourne in 1932-33. Bradman hooked at a short-pitched ball, but only succeeded in under-edging it into his stumps. He made up for it in the second innings, however, with 103 not out. That was the bespectacled Bowes's only wicket of the infamous Bodyline series. In all Bowes took 68 wickets at 22.33 in his 15 Test appearances, and he was also an important member of the strong Yorkshire side which won the County Championship seven times in the 1930s. After retirement Bowes, who was a keen amateur magician - hence his membership of the Magic Circle, the famous conjurors' club - became a well-respected cricket writer. He died in Leeds in 1987.

Has anyone ever gone through his Test career without doing anything at all? asked Dominic Bromige

I think the unluckiest Test cricketer of them all was Jack MacBryan of Somerset, who played for England against South Africa at Old Trafford in 1924. Only 66.5 overs were possible on the first day, during which South Africa crawled to 116 for 4. Then it rained ... and rained. No more play was possible, so MacBryan didn't get a chance to bat, and he was rather unkindly dropped from the next match, and then was never chosen again. Poor MacBryan is the only Test cricketer who never batted, bowled or made a catch. I suppose he must at least have touched the ball occasionally in the field. As some consolation, he did play hockey for Great Britain at the Olympic Games.

I was stumped by this quiz question: Who played Tests for two different countries but was born in neither of them? Can you help? asked Donald Woodbridge

The answer is John Traicos, the pencil-slim offspinner who holds another record too - the longest gap between Test appearances. Athanasios John Traicos was born of Greek parents in Egypt in 1947, and he played in the last three Tests of South Africa's whitewash of Australia in 1969-70, the last matches they played before being excommunicated from international cricket. Traicos lived in Rhodesia, later Zimbabwe, and continued to play for them. When Zimbabwe played their first Test match, in 1992-93, 45-year-old Traicos was in the side - over 22 years after his previous Test appearance - and took 5 for 86 from 50 miserly overs. He played three more Tests for them, and finished with 18 wickets (42.72) from his seven Test appearances for two countries. He later became chairman of Zimbabwe's selectors, before moving to Australia.

Who has made the longest duck in Test cricket? asked Martin Ward

This esoteric record is held by Geoff Allott, the New Zealand tailender. He survived for 101 minutes - 77 balls - against South Africa at Auckland in 1998-99. Allott helped Chris Harris (68 not out) put on 32, in a vain attempt to avert the follow-on, before he was dismissed by Shaun Pollock for 0. Allott called it "the best duck I'll ever make". The previous record was held by England's Godfrey Evans, who was stuck on 0 for 97 minutes before scoring his first run against Australia at Adelaide in 1946-47. In his day job Allott was a hard-working left-arm seamer, who found conditions - and the seaming white ball - much to his liking in the 1999 World Cup in England, when he was the competition's joint-leading wicket-taker (alongside Shane Warne) with 20. Sadly Allott suffered increasingly from back trouble after that, and was eventually forced to retire.

When was England's batting opened in a Test by an international rugby player and an international footballer? asked Allan Sanders

This was in the third Test of the one-sided 1958 series against New Zealand, at Headingley. The players involved were Mike (MJK) Smith and Arthur Milton. Smith had played once at fly-half for England's rugby team, against Wales in 1956. His cricket career was much longer - he won 50 caps, scoring 2278 runs, and captained England in exactly half his Tests. Milton was making his debut in that Headingley match, and scored 104 not out, to become the first Gloucestershire batsman to make a century on Test debut since WG Grace in 1880. But that was the highlight of his short six-match career - his next-highest score was 34. Milton's England football career was even shorter: he was called up as a replacement, after only 12 league matches on the right wing for Arsenal, for the 2-2 draw against Austria at Wembley in 1951. He never played again.

I was looking at an old scorecard and one dismissal is shown as "lbw (n)". What does this signify? asked Albert Thornton

This denotes a leg-before decision given under the new experimental lbw law which was tried in 1935. Previously a batsman could only be given out if he was hit by a ball which pitched in line with the stumps and was going on to hit them: increased use of pad-play led to an experiment whereby the batsman could be given out if the ball pitched outside the off stump, as long as it hit him in line with the stumps and was going on to hit them. After two years this was adopted as a full law in 1937. To gauge the impact of the experiment, in 1935 all dismissals to balls pitching outside the off stump were recorded as lbw (n), the "n" standing for "new". The umpire signalled an lbw (n) to the scorer by holding an open palm above his head. The 1936 Wisden records that of 1273 lbw decisions in the 1935 County Championship, 404 were given out under the new regulation.

Which Wimbledon champion had an uncle who was a Test cricketer? asks Greg Bond

The tennis champion was John Newcombe, who won the men's singles at Wimbledon in 1967, 1970 and 1971, to go with numerous doubles titles. And the uncle was Warren Bardsley, a chunky left-hander who played 41 Tests in the early part of the 20th century, scoring 2469 runs at 40.47. Bardsley was the first man to score two separate hundreds in a Test - at The Oval in 1909 - and his highest score came when he carried his bat for 193 against England at Lord's in 1926. He was 43 at the time.

Is it true that Dickie Bird was once attacked by a bird? asked Roy Strang

Apparently it is. Dickie Bird was once attacked by a cockatoo - not on the field after a disputed lbw decision, but at an exhibition in Birmingham in 1994. It scratched his face and gave him a nosebleed.