Vaughan's double declaration, and a tale of four keepers

Michael Vaughan declared twice in the Johannesburg Test - when was the last time an England captain did that and won? And has anyone ever lost a Test after doing it? asked Julian Leigh

That match at the Wanderers was only the 12th time that England had declared in both innings, and only the third time that they had won after doing so. The other two occasions were both against India: at Old Trafford in 1974, when England made 328 for 9 and 213 for 3 and won by 113 runs, and at Lord's in 1990, in the match in which Graham Gooch scored 333 and 123 - he declared at 653 for 4 and 272 for 4, and won by 247 runs. Only one man has declared in both innings and then lost the Test - Garry Sobers, for West Indies against England in a famous match at Port-of-Spain in 1967-68. Australia's Allan Border declared twice against India in the match at Madras in 1986-87 that ended up as a tie.

South Africa used three different wicketkeepers in the series against England - has anyone ever used more? asked Neil Allison from South Africa

The current series, when South Africa selected Thami Tsolekile, AB de Villiers and Mark Boucher, was the 15th time that a side had chosen three different wicketkeepers in a Test series - and the first not by England, India or West Indies (I'm not including substitutes or stand-ins who may have kept in part of a match after an injury to the designated wicketkeeper). Against West Indies at home in 1928 England chose a different keeper in each of the three Tests (Harry Smith, Harry Elliott and George Duckworth), and India did likewise in England in 1936 (Dattaram Hindlekar, Khershed Meherhomji and Dilawar Hussain). The last time it happened was in 1981, when England chose Paul Downton, Bob Taylor and Alan Knott during the famous "Botham's Ashes" series against Australia. But the record is four wicketkeepers in a series: at home against Pakistan in 1952-53 India selected Khokan Sen in the first Test, Nana Joshi (second), Rajindernath (third) and Ebrahim Maka (fourth), before going back to Sen for the final Test. I've always felt a bit sorry for Rajindernath, who made four stumpings but was never selected again ...

How many times has a team been two down in a Test series and then come back to win the series 3-2? asked Edward Johnson

That's a nice easy one, because it has only happened once. In 1936-37, in Don Bradman's first series as Australia's captain, England won the first two Tests on rain-affected pitches at Brisbane and at Sydney. The boot was on the other foot in the third Test, at Melbourne, when England were caught on a drying pitch, and then Bradman - who had made rare ducks in each of the first two matches - set up a convincing victory with an innings of 270. Australia won the fourth Test at Adelaide (Bradman 212) and then the fifth at Melbourne (Bradman 169) to take the series 3-2. There have been 30 other Test series in which a team has come from one-down to win, the most recent being in West Indies in 2001-02, when India won the second Test but lost the third and fifth ones.

I noticed that there are many Indians who just got to play one Test in their careers. Does any country have a worse record? asked Shyam Sundar

To date there have been 250 Indian Test players, and 45 of them have won only one cap. That's 18% of all the players, a percentage bettered - if that's the right word - only by South Africa, who have 63 one-cap wonders among their 298 players (21.14%) and Pakistan, with 36 out of 184 or 19.57%. Sri Lanka has the lowest percentage - nine of 99 players, or 9.09%. The numbers for the other countries are: Australia 61 out of 391 = 15.60%; Bangladesh seven out of 40 = 17.50%; England 87 out of 625 = 13.92%; New Zealand 27 out of 227 = 11.89%; West Indies 32 out of 257 = 12.45%: Zimbabwe 10 out of 69 = 14.49%.

What's the lowest individual score that has never been made in a Test match? asked Sam Price from Cheltenham

The first time I was asked this question the answer was 228, but then Herschelle Gibbs made that for South Africa against Pakistan at Cape Town in 2002-03. Which neatly means that the lowest score not to be made yet by a batsman in a Test is now 229, followed by 238, 245, 252 and 263. The only score of less than 150 that has not yet been made by a batsman in an ODI is 147.

I believe that Bhagwat Chandrasekhar of India took more Test wickets than he scored runs. Has anyone else done this? asked Arpit Nigam

Chandrasekhar, who took 242 Test wickets but scored only 167 runs, does indeed lead this list. There are nine other bowlers with more than 50 Test wickets who fall into the same inept-with-the-bat category, including two current players in Danish Kaneria of Pakistan (102 wickets and 81 runs) and the New Zealander Chris Martin (63 wickets, 28 runs). The others are England's Bill Bowes (68/28), Ken Farnes (60/58) and Roy Tattersall (58/50), the Australians Bert Ironmonger (74/42), Bruce Reid (113/93) and Jack Saunders (79/39), and Narendra Hirwani of India (66/54). The biggest percentage imbalance of all was by Charles "Father" Marriott, the Kent legspinner who played once for England against West Indies at The Oval in 1933 - he took 11 wickets but didn't score a run.