Did I hear correctly on the TV commentary from Trent Bridge that Shoaib Bashir was the youngest ever to play a Test five-for for England? asked Keith McDonald from Scotland
That’s almost right: the tall Somerset offspinner Shoaib Bashir was the youngest to take five Test wickets in an innings for England in England during the second Test against West Indies at Trent Bridge earlier this month. He was 20 years and 282 days old, 16 days younger than Jimmy Anderson when he took 5 for 73 on debut against Zimbabwe at Lord’s in 2003.

Seven visiting bowlers have taken a five-for in a Test for England when they were younger than Bashir. The youngest of them all was Mohammad Amir, who was 18 when he took 5 for 52 for Pakistan at The Oval in 2010. The others are Ramakant “Tiny” Desai for India at Lord’s in 1959, Graham McKenzie for Australia at Lord’s in 1961, Alf Valentine for the West Indies at Old Trafford in 1950, Craig McDermott for Australia at Lord’s in 1985, Chetan Sharma for India at Lord’s in 1986 and Kapil Dev for India at Edgbaston in 1979. Apart from Desai, who was 19, the others were all 20 years old. Dwayne Bravo (for West Indies at Old Trafford in 2004) also scored five runs before turning 21, but he was older than Bashir and Anderson.

This was Bashir’s third Test five-for: the only younger man to ever take one for England is Rehan Ahmed, who was just 18 when he claimed 5 for 48 against Pakistan in Karachi in December 2022. The only other man to take five wickets in a Test for England before turning 21 was the left-handed seamer Bill Voce of Nottinghamshire, who was 20 (and 182 days) when he took 7 for 70 against the West Indies at Port-of-Spain in 1929-30. Click here for the list of the youngest men to take five wickets in an innings in all Tests.

The first three innings of the Nottingham Test all yielded over 400 runs. How many times has this happened? And was it really the first time that England reached 400 runs twice in a Test? asked Keith D’Souza from Spain
The match between England and the West Indies at Trent Bridge provided only the tenth example of a Test with three totals over 400. In three of them, one of the 400s came in the fourth innings of the match. They included two of the most famous of all Tests: the ten-day, timeless Test between England and South Africa at Durban in 1938–39, which ended in a draw when England – 654 for 5 chasing 696 to win – had to leave to catch the boat home, and the Headingley Test of 1948, when the “Invincible” Australians led by Don Bradman chased down 404 for 5 to win on the final day, the 39-year-old Don finishing with 173 not out, his 29th and final Test century.

Surprisingly, this was indeed the first time in all their 1073 Tests that England had reached 400 in both innings. Perhaps it is not so surprising when you discover that there have only been ten other instances of a team passing 400 twice, one of them by India against England at Rajkot earlier this year.

Ollie Pope has now made six Test centuries, all against six different countries. Is this a record? asked Andrew Brownjohn from England
Ollie Pope’s 121 in the recent second Test at Trent Bridge was indeed his sixth Test century, all against different opponents. I was rather surprised to discover that he was the ninth batter to make his first six Test tons against different countries, after Quinton de Koc (South Africa), Dhananjaya de Silva (Sri Lanka), Dimuth Karunaratne (Sri Lanka), Henry Nicholls (New Zealand), Ricky Ponting (Australia), Ashwell Prince (South Africa), Thilan Samaraweera (Sri Lanka) and Virender Sehwag (India). Pope is venturing into what-if territory and has a chance to become the first to make his first seven centuries against different opponents in the series against Sri Lanka later this summer. De Kock has made six centuries in a Test career, which looks set to end in December 2021 – but he could make seven if he were to return.

The record in one-day internationals is held by Ireland’s William Porterfield, whose first nine centuries have all come against different opponents. Next is Zimbabwe’s Sean Williams, whose eight ODI centuries to date have all come against different countries.

Peter Moor, who represented Zimbabwe, played a test against them last week. How many others have played a test against their former country? asked Richard Stone from Zimbabwe
When he made his debut for Ireland against Bangladesh in Mirpur in April 2023, Peter Moor became the 17th man to represent two countries in Test cricket. Interestingly, the last of Moor’s eight Tests for Zimbabwe was also against Bangladesh in Mirpur in November 2018; he made 83, his highest Test score to date. Moor faced his former compatriots in the first Test played last week at the Stormont ground in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Moor is the ninth of those 17 men to play for his new country against his old country. The first to do so was Billy Midwinter, who is the only man to have appeared on both sides in the England-Australia Tests (and also the only one to be kidnapped by WG Grace). The English duo of Frank Hearne and Frank Mitchell both played for England against South Africa, then emigrated to South Africa and played against England (Mitchell as captain).

The Nawab of Pataudi senior played for England, scoring a century on his debut in Sydney during the Bodyline series of 1932-33, and later captained India in England in 1946. Abdul Hafeez Kardar and Amir Elahi represented India before partition, and Pakistan against India afterwards. Wicketkeeper Sammy Guillen played for West Indies in New Zealand in 1951-52 and liked the place so much he decided to live there: he was given special permission to play against West Indies in 1955-56 and was instrumental in New Zealand’s first Test victory in 26 years, in Auckland. Finally, Kepler Wessels played for Australia, then returned to his native South Africa and captained them in Australia in 1993-94.

Four of the others – Billy Murdoch, Jack Ferris, Sammy Woods and Albert Trott – played for Australia against England, then for England against South Africa (but did not face Australia). And four more – Gul Mohammad, John Traicos, Boyd Rankin and Gary Ballance – played for a second country against a completely different opponent. For the full list of men who have represented two countries in a Test, click here. No women have yet represented two different countries in a Test.

Which player scored a hundred points and achieved a hat-trick in the same test? asked Joel Pojas from the Philippines
The only man to have achieved this remarkable all-round feat is Bangladesh offspinner Sohag Gazi, who followed up his unbeaten 101 against New Zealand in Chattogram in 2013-14 with a hat-trick towards the end of the visitors’ second innings. “Both the hat-trick and the hundred I was happy with,” he said afterwards. “I helped the team at a crucial time and I batted with the tail.”

But the first person to do so in a Test match was a woman: Australia’s Betty Wilson enjoyed a remarkable match at St Kilda in Melbourne in 1957-58. After taking 7 for 7 and rounding off England’s innings of 35 with a hat-trick, Wilson scored exactly 100 as Australia – having bowled themselves out for 38 in the first innings – made 202 for 9 before setting a target of 206 in what became 64 overs. England survived – narrowly, finishing on 76 for 8: Wilson this time taking 4 for 9 and finishing with eye-popping match figures of 29.3-18-16-11.

Only eight other men have taken a hat-trick and scored a century at some point during their Test careers: Johnny Briggs, Stuart Broad and Moeen Ali (England), Wasim Akram and Abdul Razzaq (Pakistan), Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan (India) and James Franklin (New Zealand). For the list of Test hat-tricks, click here.

Shiva Jayaraman from ESPNcricinfo’s statistics team helped with some of the above answers.