Justin Greaves bowled five successive wicket maidens the other day. Has this ever happened in a Test before? asked Jamie Radford from England
That extraordinary spell by West Indies' Justin Greaves came during Pakistan's first innings in the first Test in Trinidad last week. In successive overs - all maidens - he dismissed Shan Masood, Aamer Jamal, Ali Usman, Mohammad Rizwan and Mohammad Abbas.
Greaves is the tenth bowler known to have taken five wickets for no runs during a Test: that includes Jermaine Lawson, who had a unique spell of 6 for 0 for West Indies against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2002. None of the others achieved the feat in the space of five successive maiden overs: the nearest appears to be by Fred Trueman, for England against Australia at Headingley in 1961, when he took his first wicket in an over that had already yielded a run, then had four successive wicket maidens.
Against South Africa in Johannesburg in January 2016, England's Stuart Broad took a wicket in an over that contained a boundary, had a catch dropped in the next over, which cost a single, then bowled four successive wicket maidens. Broad also had a spell of 5 for 0 against India at Trent Bridge in 2011.
The other known instances of a spell of 5 for 0 were by Hugh Tayfield for South Africa against New Zealand in Johannesburg in 1954, Lance Gibbs for West Indies vs India in Bridgetown in 1962, Derek Underwood for England vs Pakistan at Lord's in 1974, Venkatesh Prasad for India vs Pakistan in Chennai in 1999, Waqar Younis for Pakistan vs Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2002, and Trent Boult in just 12 balls for New Zealand vs Sri Lanka in Christchurch in 2018-19. None of these excellent spells included five successive wicket maidens.
The late great Garry Sobers once scored 490 Test runs without getting out. Is this a record? asked Maurice Green from Barbados
You're right that Garry Sobers followed his famous Test-record 365 not out (against Pakistan in Kingston early in 1958) with 125 in the first innings of the next Test, in Georgetown.
This was a record for the most Test runs between dismissals at the time - previously it was 376 by another great West Indian, George Headley, in the 1930s - but it was first broken by Sachin Tendulkar early in 2004, when he made 497, with innings of 241, 60 and 194 (all not out) and 2, against Australia and Pakistan. And the bar was raised again in 2015-16 by Australia's Adam Voges, who hit 269 not out and 106 not out against West Indies, then 239 against New Zealand - a total of 614 runs between dismissals.
Anil Kumble scored more than 2000 Test runs before making his first hundred - was this a record? asked Milind Sharma from India
Anil Kumble made 110 not out for India against England at The Oval in 2007. It was his 118th Test, and he had scored 2094 runs before that innings. Only one man has scored more Test runs before making a century: when Chaminda Vaas hit 100 not out for Sri Lanka against Bangladesh in Colombo in 2007, he had started his 97th Test with 2554 runs. Alistair Campbell of Zimbabwe also made more than 2000 runs before finally reaching a Test century, while South Africa's Trevor Goddard passed 2000 in the course of his first hundred.
The Brazil women's team recently had a run of 16 successive victories in T20 internationals. Was this a record? asked David McCann from Brazil
It's true that Brazil's women's team won 16 successive completed matches between June 2025 and June 2026, when the run was ended by Rwanda in Kigali. If Brazil had won that one, they would have tied the overall record of 17, set by Thailand between July 2018 and August 2019. Australia (March 2014 to August 2015), Italy (July 2024 to May 2025), and the United Arab Emirates (November 2025 to June 2026) have also won 16 successive women's T20 internationals.
On the men's side, Spain are currently on a run of 21 successive victories (excluding abandoned matches and no-results). The leading Test-playing country is Afghanistan, with 12 in a row in 2018 and 2019.
Shan Masood was born in Kuwait. Have any other Test cricketers been born there? asked Javed Usman from Pakistan
Pakistan's recent captain Shan Masood was born in Kuwait in 1989. He's actually the third Test cricketer to have been born there. The other two also played for Pakistan: slow left-armer Shakil Ahmed (born 1966) played one Test, against Australia in Karachi in October 1998, while seamer Tanvir Ahmed (born 1978) won five caps between 2010 and 2013, taking 6 for 120 in the first innings of his debut, against South Africa in Abu Dhabi.
Shiva Jayaraman of Cricinfo's stats team helped with some of the above answers.
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