Most run-outs, and the lowest score never made

Romesh Kaluwitharana seems to be run out a lot in one-dayers. Who holds the record for being run out most times? asked Naveen Nahata from Bangalore

Kalu does get out that way a lot - at the moment he's suffered it 26 times - but that only places him 11th on the ODI list. There are actually four Sri Lankans ahead of him, which might suggest that their new coach, John Dyson, needs to sharpen up their running! Marvan Atapattu has been run out 31 times, Arjuna Ranatunga 30, and Asanka Gurusinha and Aravinda de Silva 27 apiece. A Pakistani tops the list - but not the one you might expect, as Inzamam-ul-Haq currently lies second with 37 (of course this records the number of times he's been run out himself, and doesn't take into account the partners he may have lured to destruction). Top of the list, after being run out 38 times in ODIs, is Wasim Akram. After Wasim and Inzamam come Mohammad Azharuddin and Mark Waugh (both 32), while the others in the top ten are Allan Border (28) and Steve Waugh (27).

In the recent South Africa-West Indies series there was one Test in which seven different players scored a century - was this a record? asked Ian from Perth, Australia

This was the third Test at Cape Town, when the centurions were Jacques Rudolph, Mark Boucher, Chris Gayle, Brian Lara, Herschelle Gibbs, Dwayne Smith and the seemingly inevitable Jacques Kallis, who completed a record of his own by scoring a century in each of the four Tests in that series. Only once before had seven different men scored centuries in the same match: in the first Test of the 1938 Ashes series, at Trent Bridge, Charles Barnett, Len Hutton, Eddie Paynter and Denis Compton of England were joined in three figures by Stan McCabe, Bill Brown and Don Bradman for Australia. There have been 14 occasions when six different men scored centuries in the same game, the most recent one being the second India-New Zealand Test at Mohali last October.

Six batsmen scored half-centuries in Zimbabwe's first innings in their recent Test against Bangladesh at Harare. None of them went on to make a century - has this happened before? asked Sujoy Ghosh from Kolkata

Rather surprisingly, it had happened twice before. At Kanpur in 1976-77 India made 524 for 9 declared against New Zealand: six men posted half-centuries, but the highest score was Mohinder Amarnath's 70. This remains the highest Test total not to include an individual century. And at Melbourne in 1981-82 six Pakistanis passed 50, but none reached 100 in their total of 500 for 8 dec against Australia.

What is the lowest individual score that has never been made by a batsman in a Test? asked Michael Booker

The last time I was asked that question the answer was 228 - but that's now been done, by Herschelle Gibbs for South Africa v West Indies at Cape Town in January 2003. So the lowest score never made in a Test is now ... 229. For the record, the only other scores under 250 which have never been recorded in a Test are 238, 245, 248 and 249. The most-common score in Tests is, not surprisingly, 0 (7368 instances, including not-outs), followed by 1 (2963). Perhaps slightly oddly, more batsmen have made 4 (2390) than 2 (2323).

Who is the youngest captain in a Test match, and in a one-day international? asked Michael Boyre from Toronto, Canada

The youngest man to lead his country in a Test is the Nawab of Pataudi junior (later Mansur Ali Khan), who was 21 years 77 days old when he captained India for the first time, at Bridgetown in 1961-62 - he took over after Nari Contractor was seriously injured in a tour match. Waqar Younis lies second: he was 22 years 15 days old when he led Pakistan for the first time, against Zimbabwe at Karachi's Defence Stadium in 1993-94, while Graeme Smith is third (22 years 82 days, South Africa v Bangladesh at Dhaka in 2002-03). Waqar is the youngest man to captain in an ODI - 21 years 354 days against West Indies at Sharjah in 1993-94 - just ahead of Smith, who was 22 years 59 days old when he skippered South Africa against India at Dhaka in 2002-03.

Has a Cornishman ever played cricket for England? asked Chris Willett ... from Cornwall

Actually there have been two England players who were born in Cornwall. The first was Jack Crapp, the Gloucestershire batsman who appeared in seven Tests, the first of them against Don Bradman's "Invincibles" in 1948. Born in St Columb Major in Cornwall, he later became a first-class umpire, and stood in four Tests in 1964 and 1965. More recently Jack Richards, the former Surrey wicketkeeper who was born in Penzance, played in eight Tests, the highlight of which was a thumping 133 at Perth in the second Test of the 1986-87 Ashes series.

There's an afterthought to one of last week's answers, from Sumit Sahai

"You rightly said that there hadn't been an all-bowled hat-trick in a Test match, but there has been one in a one-day international. During the 1987 World Cup, at Nagpur, India's Chetan Sharma bowled Ken Rutherford, Ian Smith and Ewen Chatfield with consecutive balls at the end of New Zealand's innings. What was even more visually interesting about this was that he managed to uproot one stump (and left the other two standing) on all three occasions, and it was a different stump each time. If I remember correctly, it was the middle, off and leg stumps from the first, second and third ball of the hat-trick." Further to that, as this table shows, Danny Morrison, Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram - twice - have also taken all-bowled hat-tricks in ODIs.

And another addition, from Alan Graham in Wellington, New Zealand

"There's an addition to last week's list of players who have bagged a king pair in a Test: at Auckland in 1954-55, in the match where New Zealand made the Test-low 26 all out, their wicketkeeper Ian Colquhoun was also out first ball in both innings. He was caught by Vic Wilson, the substitute, off Bob Appleyard in the first innings, and caught by Tom Graveney off Appleyard in the second, both at short leg gully. I suspect that Wilson and Graveney (a couple of days later) were standing on just about the same blade of grass."