Does Prabath Jayasuriya have the most wickets for a bowler after their first two Tests?

Was Leicestershire's 584 the highest total for a side that ended up losing by an innings? asked Gulu Ezekiel from India
Leicestershire's first-innings total of 584 in that remarkable County Championship match at Grace Road last week was indeed the highest in any first-class match lost by an innings. The previous highest was Nottinghamshire's 527 against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road in 1995. There was a near-miss in Cardiff in 1993, when Glamorgan lost by ten wickets to Middlesex despite running up a first-innings total of 562 for 3 declared.

Only ten higher first-class totals have resulted in defeat of any kind. Glamorgan are top of the overall list too, as they won in Chelmsford in 2004 despite Essex kicking off the match with a total of 642.

Sam Northeast's 410 not out made him the ninth man to reach 400 in an innings in first-class cricket (Brian Lara and Bill Ponsford did it twice). It was the highest score for Glamorgan, and the highest anywhere since Lara's 501 not out for Warwickshire vs Durham at Edgbaston in 1994. Northeast's unbroken partnership of 461 with Chris Cooke has been exceeded for the sixth wicket only by the 487 (also unbroken) of George Headley and Clarence Passailaigue for Jamaica against Lord Tennyson's XI in Kingston in 1931-32.

I noticed that Rassie van der Dussen currently has an ODI average of more than 70. Is this a record? asked Michael Browne from England
After his temperature-defying 134 in the first ODI against England in Chester-le-Street, the South African middle-order batter Rassie van der Dussen had an average of 74.95 in one-day internationals. That slipped slightly to 69.31 by the end of the series, but still left him clear at the top of this list - of highest-averaging batters, given a minimum of six innings. Next come Ryan ten Doeschate of Netherlands (67.00), Pakistan's captain Babar Azam (59.22) and Aqib Ilyas of Oman (58.00), who's just ahead of Virat Kohli (57.68).

Prabath Jayasuriya started his Test career with three five-fors. What's the most wickets by a bowler in his first two Tests? asked Peter Blundell from Australia
The Sri Lankan slow left-armer Prabath Jayasuriya followed his debut figures of 6 for 118 and 6 for 59 in the victory over Australia in Galle with 5 for 82 and 4 for 135 against Pakistan, also in Galle. That's 21 wickets in his first two Test matches: the record is 24, by the Indian legspinner Narendra Hirwani, helped by taking 16 on his debut, against West Indies in Madras in 1987-88. The England seamer Alec Bedser took 22 wickets after his first two Tests, while Australia's Bob Massie also had 21.

Jayasuriya joined Hirwani and six others in taking three five-fors in his first two Tests: Tom Richardson and Sydney Barnes (England), Clarrie Grimmett and Rodney Hogg (Australia), Mehidy Hasan (Bangladesh) and Axar Patel (India). Richardson, Grimmett and Jayasuriya took five or more in their first three innings.

Will the forthcoming Commonwealth Games women's T20 matches count as full internationals, as they include Barbados, who are part of Cricket West Indies? asked Nick Gordon from England
I wasn't sure, so I asked the ICC for a ruling, and was told: "All matches played at the Games, including Barbados, will be designated as Twenty20 internationals." It means that some of the Barbados players will show up afterwards as having played official internationals for two teams.

After the Galle Test, Abdullah Shafique had 720 runs from just six Tests. What's the record at that point of a career, and how will he need to do in his next match to keep up? asked Mehdi Ahmed from Pakistan
That match-winning undefeated 160 by the Pakistan opener Abdullah Shafique against Sri Lanka in Galle last week does give him 720 runs after six Tests. The only men to have scored more are a distinguished trio: Sunil Gavaskar (912), Don Bradman (862) and George Headley (730). Shafique has leapfrogged the likes of Frank Worrell (695), KS Ranjitsinhji (678), Vinod Kambli (673) and current player Devon Conway (659).

Bradman takes the lead after seven Tests with 1196 runs, ahead of Gavaskar (918) and Everton Weekes (878). Looking ahead a little further, after ten Tests Bradman had 1446 runs, Weekes 1125, Headley 1102, Mark Taylor 1088, and Andrew Strauss 1055. After 20 matches, it's Bradman 2798, Headley 2171, Michael Hussey 2120, and Marnus Labuschagne 2113.