Most 200s in a Test, and the highest against Sri Lanka

There were three double-centuries in the first Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka - is this a record? asked Khalif Mohammad from Karachi

There were indeed three scores of 200 or more in that first Test in Karachi recently. I was slightly surprised to discover that this had happened only once before in Tests: in Bridgetown in 1964-65 Bill Lawry scored 210 and Bob Simpson 201 for Australia, then Seymour Nurse replied with 201 for West Indies.

Had anyone scored a triple-century against Sri Lanka before Younis Khan did so? asked Sanjaya de Silva from Sri Lanka

That innings of 313 by Younis Khan in the first Test in Karachi was indeed the first triple-century Sri Lanka had conceded in Tests. But the previous record could not have been closer to 300: in Wellington in 1990-91, New Zealand's Martin Crowe was out for 299. To date there have been 12 other Test double-centuries against Sri Lanka, two of them by Brian Lara.

In the recent match between Cobras and Titans in South Africa, Ryan Canning and Pepler Sandri added 115 for the tenth wicket after the Cobras were 113 for 9. Has it ever happened before at first-class level that the tenth-wicket partnership has outscored all the rest? asked Keith Lister from South Africa

It's obviously quite unusual, but it isn't unique - there have been quite a few occasions where the 10th-wicket partnership has been the largest of the innings. The most extreme example - which oddly came, like last week's instance in Paarl, after the batting side had slumped to 113 for 9 - came in 1928-29, when New South Wales were struggling in reply to Victoria's 376 in Melbourne. NSW started Christmas Day at 58 for 7 (Don Bradman was out for 1), and were soon nine down - but then the last-wicket pair of Alan Kippax and Hal Hooker put on 307, still a world record, to take their side into the lead. Kippax finished with 260 not out, while Hooker, whose previous-highest first-class score was just 28, batted for more than five hours and made 62. This stand was featured in Cricinfo's Rewind column a while ago.

Mohammad Azharuddin finished his career with 99 Tests. Is there anyone else who ended up so close to 100? asked Shashi Bhushan from India

No, India's Mohammad Azharuddin, who scored centuries in his first and last innings, is the only man to end up with 99 Test caps. Curtly Ambrose won 98 caps for West Indies, while that handy pair of wicketkeeping Aussies Rod Marsh and Adam Gilchrist both played in 96 Tests, as did England's Nasser Hussain. The current Test in Durban is the 98th for Makhaya Ntini.

In the final Test in Australia in 1930-31, West Indies declared twice even though it was a timeless match. What circumstances led them to make those declarations? Were they in a hurry to catch their ship back home? asked Hemanga Ranaweera from Australia

I don't think that match in Sydney in 1930-31 was one of those occasions when the boat was threatening to sail off. Rather it was that the weather intervened, and the West Indian captain Jackie Grant declared twice to get the Australians in on a wet wicket. And it worked: West Indies ended up winning by 30 runs, their first victory over Australia (although the Aussies did win the series 4-1). The Wisden match report confirms it: "Favoured by the conditions - rain over the weekend and subsequently the state of the pitch - West Indies gained a notable triumph. Apart from the result, the match was memorable for the fact that Grant twice applied the closure. Each time the wet wicket, becoming difficult under a hot sun, influenced the West Indies captain to adopt this course and on both occasions his judgment proved correct."

Carrying on from last week's question about captains who had the most success in the toss, I wondered what the most consecutive toss-wins was by one captain? asked Derek Brierley from Southampton

The record for consecutive toss-wins in Tests is nine, by England's Colin Cowdrey, between 1959-60 and 1961. Four more captains have won eight tosses in a row: two Englishmen - Walter Hammond, between 1938 and 1938-39, and Ray Illingworth (1971 to 1972); and two West Indians - Clive Lloyd (1981-82 to 1983-84) and Richie Richardson (1993-94 to 1995).