Dismissing all the opposition, and another Lara landmark

How many bowlers have dismissed all 11 members of the opposition during a Test match? I know Jim Laker did it, but has anyone else managed it? asked Sunil from Chennai

Jim Laker was indeed the first to do it, during the course of his amazing 19 wickets for 90 for England v Australia at Old Trafford in 1956. Jim Burke was dismissed by Tony Lock in the first innings, but otherwise Laker removed everybody twice, except the not-out batsmen Ray Lindwall (first innings) and Ian Johnson. The feat has been repeated five times since. Next to do it was Srinivas Venkataraghavan, the Indian offspinner who's now a Test umpire, against New Zealand at Delhi in 1964-65. Venkat took 12 wickets in the match, but the only man he dismissed twice was the opener Terry Jarvis. Next was Geoff Dymock, the Australian left-arm seamer, against India at Kanpur in 1979-80: again he took 12 wickets, and his only double victim was Shivlal Yadav, who is currently managing the Indian team in Australia. At Lahore in 1987-88 Pakistan's Abdul Qadir dismissed all 11 Englishmen on his way to match figures of 13 for 101. Another Pakistani, Waqar Younis, did it in 1990-91 - against New Zealand at Faisalabad he took 12 for 130, with the wicket of last man Willie Watson twice. And the most recent instance was by that man Muttiah Muralitharan, for Sri Lanka against South Africa at Galle in July 2000, when he had match figures of 13 for 171.

I know Courtney Walsh holds the Test record, but who has been out most often for a duck in one-day internationals? asks MR Srinivasan from Chennai

This is rather a surprising one: it's Wasim Akram, who has bagged 32 ducks in ODIs. Next comes Murali, with 27, and Javagal Srinath of India (25), before a distinguished trio on 23: Glenn McGrath of Australia, and the sometime Sri Lankan opening pair of Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana. Anil Kumble and Waqar Younis have had 22 one-day ducks, and Chaminda Vaas 21. Stuck on 20 are Adam Parore, Arjuna Ranatunga and Salim Malik.

Has anyone done the allround treble of 1000 runs, 100 wickets and 100 catches in both Tests and one-day internationals? asks Simon Boyley from Adelaide

The only one who fits the bill here is Carl Hooper, the former West Indies captain. In 102 Tests he scored 5762 runs, and took 114 wickets and 115 catches; while in 227 ODIs he amassed 5761 runs (just one fewer than in Tests), and took 193 wickets and 120 catches. The following have managed the not-inconsiderable treble of 1000 runs, 50 wickets and 50 catches in both Tests and ODIs: Sanath Jayasuriya, Kapil Dev, Jacques Kallis, Shaun Pollock, Shane Warne, Mark Waugh and Steve Waugh.

Who is the only West Indian Test player who was born in England? asks Jared Clayton

This is Courtney Browne, the wicketkeeper who played in 14 Tests between 1994-95 and 2001, taking the high number of 63 catches (and one stumping). Browne was born in Lambeth, in south London, although his parents soon moved back to Barbados. Turning the question around, quite a few England Test players have been born in the West Indies: Joey Benjamin (St Kitts), Roland Butcher and Gladstone Small (Barbados), Norman Cowans and Devon Malcolm (Jamaica), Phil DeFreitas (Dominica), Lord Harris and Plum Warner (Trinidad), Chris Lewis (Guyana), and Wilf Slack and Neil Williams (St Vincent).

I noticed that in the recent first Test at Johannesburg, there were three scores of 18 and three of 44 in South Africa's second innings. What's the highest number of similar scores in one Test innings? asks Arshad Anjum from Sharjah

There have been nine occasions when there have been six ducks in a Test innings, the most recent by Bangladesh against West Indies at Dhaka in 2002-03. That was the match in which Jermaine Lawson took 6 for 3 as Bangladesh were blown away for 87, having been 80 for 3, in their second innings. But perhaps the oddest-looking Test scorecard is Australia's against South Africa at Durban in 1949-50 - that one contained six scores of 2, including four in a row in the middle order, but no ducks. And there were six scores of 1 (but again no ducks) in India's second innings of 103 against West Indies at Ahmedabad in 1983-84. The highest identical score to appear as many as three times in any Test innings is 50 - by Easton McMorris, Willie Rodriguez and Wes Hall for West Indies v India at Port-of-Spain in 1961-62.

Last week's column mentioned Brian Lara's feat of twice scoring a double-century in a Test his side lost. In one of those - against Sri Lanka - he actually scored a century as well: has that ever happened before? asks Chris Storer from Oman

Lara did this against Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo in 2001-02, when he scored 221 and 130, yet somehow finished on the losing side. This is unique in Test history, and as far as I can tell it has only once happened in any other first-class match. No prizes for guessing the batsman's name: it was Don Bradman. Playing for Bill Woodfull's XI against Jack Ryder's XI at Sydney in 1929-30, Bradman scored 124 and 225, but his side lost by one wicket. Since Bradman's side was forced to follow on he actually completed both of his centuries on the third day, which he began with 54 not out: he scored 275 runs in all on that day.