Does Gus Atkinson now have the best figures on debut for England in Tests?

Where do Gus Atkinson's figures stand on Test debut for England? asked Terence Piper from England
Gus Atkinson, making his debut, rather upstaged the retiring Jimmy Anderson in the first Test against West Indies at Lord's last week. Atkinson's first-innings figures of 7 for 45 were the third-best on England Test debut, after John Ferris' 7 for 37 against South Africa in Cape Town in 1891-92 (Ferris had previously played eight Tests for Australia), and Dominic Cork's 7 for 43 against West Indies at Lord's in 1995.

Atkinson's match figures of 12 for 106 have been bettered on England debut only by Ferris (13 for 91 in the match mentioned above) and the Kent left-arm seamer Fred "Nutty" Martin, who collected 12 for 102 against Australia at The Oval in 1890. Martin won only one more cap - in the same Cape Town game as Ferris played his only Test for England.

Atkinson was only the sixth bowler - and the first for more than 90 years - to take two five-fors in his first Test for England, following Martin, Ferris, another Surrey fast bowler in Tom Richardson (5 for 49 and 5 for 107 against Australia at Old Trafford in 1893), Kent legspinner Charles "Father" Marriott (5 for 37 and 6 for 59 in his only Test, against West Indies at The Oval in 1933), and the Essex fast bowler Ken Farnes (5 for 102 and 5 for 77 against Australia at Trent Bridge in 1934).

Gus Atkinson dismissed Jason Holder first ball at Lord's, and Holder then got Atkinson first ball too. How often has this happened in Tests? asked Martin Richardson from England
Helped by the Melbourne statistician Charles Davis, who has made a detailed study of old scorebooks, we came up with five previous instances of two players inflicting golden ducks on each other in the same Test before Gus Atkinson and Jason Holder did it last week at Lord's.

The first known instance was by the Hampshire fast bowler Christopher Heseltine and South Africa's slow left-armer George Rowe in the first Test in Johannesburg in 1895-96; both were making their Test debuts.

It didn't happen again for nearly a century, before Kapil Dev of India and the Pakistan debutant Azeem Hafeez traded golden ducks in Bangalore in 1983-84. There was another case in Bridgetown in 1990-91, the players being Courtney Walsh of West Indies and Australia's Bruce Reid.

And there had been two previous instances in the current century: by Stuart MacGill of Australia and Sri Lanka's Muthiah Muralidaran in a match in Galle in 2003-04, and by South Africa's Kagiso Rabada and the man of the moment Jimmy Anderson for England in Centurion in 2015-16. We don't have full ball-by-ball details for all Tests, so it's just possible there may be one or two other instances.

Was James Anderson the oldest player to figure in a Test at Lord's? asked Ricky Dooley from Scotland
Jimmy Anderson was about two weeks short of his 42nd birthday (July 30) during last week's Test against West Indies at Lord's . Rather surprisingly perhaps, 20 players older than Anderson have appeared in a Test there, the most recent being 42-year-old Misbah-ul-Haq for Pakistan in 2016, when he scored 114, and led the team in a series of press-ups to prove his fitness.

The oldest of all in a Lord's Test was WG Grace, who was nearly 48 when he captained England against Australia in 1896. The great Surrey opener Jack Hobbs was also 47 when he played his last Lord's Test, against Australia in 1930. Hobbs was 43 when he made 119 against Australia in 1926, but Australia's Warren Bardsley, who was exactly one week older, set the age record for a Test century at Lord's in that same match by carrying his bat for an unbeaten 193.

Anderson is the oldest bowler of any significant pace to appear in a Lord's Test, beating 40-year-old Geoff Chubb, who opened the bowling for South Africa in 1951, and took 5 for 77 in the first innings. Another South African, "Old Dave" Nourse, played at Lord's in 1924, when he was 45, and sent down 15 overs of medium-pace without taking a wicket.

Gus Atkinson's name is now on the Lord's honours board after his Test debut. Shamar Joseph got his name up at Adelaide and Brisbane after his first two Tests. Who's on the most such boards around the world? Is it Jacques Kallis - 45 hundreds and five five-fors? asked Glenn Rogers from Australia
I don't think all the grounds have physical honours boards for Test centuries and instances of five wickets in an innings. But assuming they did, Jacques Kallis would be on 29 such boards around the world - but he has to give best to Sachin Tendulkar, who scored hundreds at 31 different Test grounds.

Rahul Dravid scored centuries at 26 different Test venues, while Muthiah Muralidaran took five-fors at 25. Next comes Alastair Cook with 24 - level, for now at least, with Virat Kohli, the only one of these who is still playing.

I noticed that no new players made their Test debuts in the 2023 Ashes series. How many five-match series have there been with no debutants at all? asked Simon Harrison from England
I was surprised to discover that apart from the 2023 Ashes, the only five-Test series which introduced no debutants at all was the Ashes in Australia in 2006-07. England could perhaps have done with some new blood in that one, which they lost 5-0! There are also two four-Test series with no debutants: England vs Pakistan in the summer of 2006, and the Pataudi Trophy series between England and India in 2011.