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What is the best ground for batting?

Runs for Recreation: Antigua's old Test ground was a batsman's delight Getty Images

Which is the best ground for batting - the one with the highest average runs per wicket in Tests? asked Nikhil Chowdhury from India
Given a minimum of ten Tests, the ground with the highest runs-per-wicket average is the Antigua Recreation Ground with 38.47 from 22 matches, just ahead of Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi (38.38 from ten) and McLean Park in Napier (37.99 from ten). If you raise the bar to 50 matches, the best place for batsmen is the Adelaide Oval, where each wicket in the ground's 76 Tests has cost 35.71 runs. And if you have no qualification at all, top of the list overall is the Jinnah Stadium in Gujranwala, whose sole Test (Pakistan v Sri Lanka in 1991-92) was wrecked by rain. In the little play possible, Pakistan scored 109 for 2 - an average of 54.50 runs per wicket.

Looking at the other end of the scale, and again imposing a ten-match qualification, the best Test ground for bowlers is Carisbrook in Dunedin, where each wicket in its ten Tests cost 25.70 runs. The old Bangabandhu Stadium in Dhaka comes next, with 26.18 from 17 matches. Lowest of the grounds with more than 50 Tests is Headingley, Leeds, with 29.83 from 76 matches. And the sole Test at the Maharashtra CA Stadium in Pune (India v Australia in February 2017) saw a wicket fall every 18.92 runs

What is the highest last-wicket partnership to win a first-class match? And a Test? asked Leigh Hart from Australia
The record for the highest last-gasp partnership to win a first-class match has stood for a long time: back in 1935-36, Tom Leather (46*) and Ron Oxenham (34*) added 77 for the tenth wicket to take an Australian touring team to a narrow victory over Madras at Chepauk. The record was threatened in Adelaide in 2012-13, when Western Australia's last pair Ashton Agar (22*) and Michael Hogan (47*) put on 68 to spirit their side to victory over South Australia.

The Test record is 57, by Inzamam-ul-Haq (58*) and Mushtaq Ahmed (20*) for Pakistan against Australia in Karachi in 1994-95.

I know there have been two tied Tests, but the recent tie in the World Cup Qualifier made me wonder how many there have been in ODIs? asked Allan Alexander from the United States
Last week's tie between Zimbabwe and Scotland in Bulawayo was the 35th such result in one-day internationals. The previous one was also in Bulawayo: in November 2016, Zimbabwe tied with West Indies. Zimbabwe also tied with New Zealand there in 1997-98, making Queens Club the only ground to have staged three ODI ties.

The first tied one-day international was between Australia and West Indies in Melbourne in 1984-85. For the full list, click here. Rather surprisingly, that table includes at least one game in which the scores weren't level!

Ed Joyce should soon play a Test for Ireland, after several for England. How many people have played Tests for two countries? asked Joseph from Northern Ireland
Although Dublin-born Ed Joyce played 17 one-day internationals for England - and scored 107 against Australia in Sydney in 2006-07 - he never actually won a Test cap for them. However, there is one member of the current Ireland squad who did play a Test for England: seamer Boyd Rankin made his debut in Sydney in 2013-14. And so, if he plays for Ireland against Pakistan at Malahide in May, Rankin will become the 15th man to have appeared for two different countries in Test matches.

Who scored 260 on his first-class debut, but never did play a Test? asked Ian Hugo from Nigeria
This unlucky batsman was Amol Muzumdar, who marked his debut for Bombay in the 1993-94 Ranji Trophy in Faridabad by scoring 260 in a total of 718 against Haryana, whose offspinner Pankaj Thakur took 7 for 254. Muzumdar scored consistently for many years - although he never surpassed that debut 260 as a 19-year-old - without ever getting the national call. When he finally retired in 2013-14, by which time he was 39, Muzumdar had scored 11,167 runs at an average of 48, with 30 centuries in all. Of those runs, 9202 came in the Ranji Trophy, a record at the time (since surpassed by Wasim Jaffer, the first to 10,000 Ranji runs). Apart from Bombay/Mumbai, Muzumdar also played for Assam and Andhra. He was the ninth batsman to hit a double-century on first-class debut; there have been eight more since, including three in the current season.

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