Was Garry Sobers' 365 a record for a maiden Test hundred?

I noticed that Garry Sobers turned his first Test century into a score of 365 not out. Was this a record for a maiden century? asked Robert Harrison from England

Yes, the late Garry Sobers took some time to make his mark on Test cricket: he had played 16 matches with a highest score of 80 and an average of 34 before, early in 1958, hitting 365 not out - breaking the Test record of the time - against Pakistan in Kingston. He was up and running, adding two more hundreds in the next Test in Georgetown, and finished with 26 centuries from 93 matches, and a batting average of 57.78.

Sobers was the first man to convert his maiden Test century into a triple, but he has since been joined by Bob Simpson, with 311 for Australia against England at Old Trafford in 1964, and Karun Nair, who made 303 not out for India against England in Chennai in December 2016. No fewer than 42 other men extended their first Test century into a double.

Like thousands of others, I was saddened to hear of Sobers' death. I was lucky enough to see parts of some of his finest performances: as a schoolboy I saw him take 6 for 21 (from 20 overs) then make 183 for the Rest of the World against England at Lord's in 1970, and three years later saw part of his last hurrah, a sublime 150 not out for West Indies in the Lord's Test. Around that time, I managed to obtain a pair of flared cricket trousers, like Sobers wore, and when playing tried to perfect the unusual saggy-kneed walk that Sobers had. It didn't help much.

What's the highest total made to win a professional T20 match? asked Kirk Davidson from South Africa

You might be asking this because the record changed hands last week, when Washington Freedom scored 270 for 4 to defeat MI New York (266 for 9) in their Major League Cricket eliminator in Oakland in California. For the first time in a senior T20 match, three batters scored centuries - Nicholas Pooran for New York (he reached three figures in 31 balls), and Steven Smith and Andries Gous for Washington. They put on 241 in 14.5 overs, a third-wicket record in T20s.

The previous highest successful T20 chase was in April this year, when Punjab Kings made 265 for 4 to overhaul Delhi Capitals' 264 for 2 with seven balls to spare in an IPL game in Delhi. Punjab Kings are next on the list too - they hit 262 for 2 to pass Kolkata Knight Riders' 261 for 6 at Eden Gardens in 2024.

The highest successful chase in a T20I is South Africa's 259 for 4 to beat West Indies (258 for 5) in Centurion in 2023.

Which was the first Test match not to feature either England or Australia? asked Albert Rankin from England

As I suspect you've realised, Test cricket was more than half a century old before there was a match that didn't involve either England or Australia. The games in question happened early in 1932: South Africa had just finished a series in Australia - in which Don Bradman averaged 201 - and went on to New Zealand, where they played Tests in Christchurch and Wellington, winning both. These were the last Tests not involving England or Australia until 1948-49, when West Indies toured India. West Indies visited New Zealand in 1951-52, then in 1952-53, India took on Pakistan and West Indies, and South Africa toured New Zealand again.

Brendan Taylor's international career now stretches over more than 22 years. Where does he stand on the all-time list? asked Jamie du Preez from Zimbabwe

Brendan Taylor made his international debut for Zimbabwe in an ODI in 2004, and also played in their most recent Test, the clinical innings victory over Bangladesh in Harare last month. His international career - which so far includes 37 Tests, 207 ODIs and 59 T20Is - has already lasted 22 years and 71 days: further international appearances will stretch that and possibly put him even higher on the overall list of longest Test careers.

Taylor, who's now 40, currently lies tenth in the table, having recently passed Chris Gayle, whose international career lasted 22 years and 56 days. Some other long careers are within reach, although Taylor will do well to break the overall record: Wilfred Rhodes played his first Test for England in June 1899, and his last in April 1930, almost 31 years later.

I know that Colin Cowdrey was the first to play 100 Test matches. Who was the second? And who was first to 100 in ODIs? asked Philip Murray from England

Colin Cowdrey played his 100th Test for England - and scored 104 - against Australia at Edgbaston in 1968. It was quite a while before anyone else made it to 100 caps: the second to do so was Geoff Boycott (who had played in Cowdrey's 100th), against Australia at Lord's in 1981.

A century of caps has become fairly commonplace since then: at the moment 84 men have played in 100 or more Test matches. Sachin Tendulkar leads the way with 200.

The first man to play 100 ODIs was Australia's Allan Border in 1985. Viv Richards and Desmond Haynes of West Indies both reached 100 in Australia later that year. Border was also the first to 200 (February 1990), with Haynes second. Mohammad Azharuddin made it to 300 in October 1998, and Sanath Jayasuriya reached 400 in October 2007 - a week before Sachin Tendulkar got there. Tendulkar eventually played 463: Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara are the only others to reach 400 ODIs.

The first man to play 100 T20Is was Pakistan's Shoaib Malik, who reached the mark in 2018. No one has yet played in 200: Ireland's Paul Stirling currently leads the way with 163.

The first woman to win 100 ODI caps was New Zealand's Debbie Hockley, in 2000. The first to 200 was India's Mithali Raj in 2019; she still leads the way overall with 232 matches, with her frequent team-mate Jhulan Goswami (204) the only other woman past 200.

In women's T20Is, the first to play 100 was England's Jenny Gunn, in 2018; Harmanpreet Kaur of India reached 200 during the 2026 World Cup in England.

Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo's stats team helped with some of the above answers.

Click here to read article