What's the biggest IPL partnership involving an England player?

Was Jonny Bairstow's partnership with David Warner the other day the biggest involving an Englishman in the IPL? asked Jim Wilkinson from England
Jonny Bairstow and David Warner put on 185 for Sunrisers' first wicket against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Hyderabad over the weekend. It was the sixth-highest stand in the history of the IPL, but the largest for the first wicket: the five higher ones were all for the second wicket. Highest of all remains 229, by Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers for RCB against Gujarat Lions in Bengaluru in 2016.

The previous highest IPL partnership involving an English player was an unbroken stand of 130, by Owais Shah and Angelo Mathews for Kolkata Knight Riders' fifth wicket against Deccan Chargers in Mumbai in 2010.

Is Alastair Cook the first knight to score a first-class hundred? asked David Morrison from England
Sir Alastair Cook's 150 not out for Essex against Cambridge MCCU at Fenner's last week made him the first man knighted for services to cricket to score a first-class century after the award. The nearest approach previously was by Sir Donald Bradman, who scored his last first-class hundred in December 1948, about a month before his knighthood was announced.

Sir Derrick Bailey, who captained Gloucestershire in the 1950s, hit two first-class hundreds, both of them in 1951. Sir Timothy O'Brien, an Irish-born batsman, scored 15 first-class hundreds between 1884 and 1914, most of them for Middlesex. He was also the only "Sir" to captain England in a Test, against South Africa in Port Elizabeth in 1895-96. But both Bailey and O'Brien were baronets, who inherited their titles: Bailey's father, Sir Abe Bailey, was a successful South African businessman who came up with the idea for the ICC.

Pakistan had two hundreds in their chase against Australia at the weekend, but still lost. Has this ever happened in an ODI before? asked Sathya Thukkaram from India
Abid Ali (112 on debut) and Mohammad Rizwan (104) both scored centuries for Pakistan in Dubai on Friday - but with only Haris Sohail of the others reaching double figures, Australia still won by six runs.

This was actually the 28th time a team had lost an ODI despite having two individual centuries - but the vast majority of those came in the first innings of the match. On only three previous occasions had a team failed to complete a run chase despite having two centurions. Two of those were by India: against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 1997-98 (Mohammad Azharuddin 111 not out and Ajay Jadeja 119), and against Australia in Canberra in 2015-16 (Shikhar Dhawan 126, Virat Kohli 106). The other instance was against India, by Zimbabwe in Adelaide in 2003-04, when Stuart Carlisle made 109 and Sean Ervine 100.

Don Bradman and India's Polly Umrigar both scored ten Test centuries and were never out in the nineties. Is there anyone else on this list? asked K. Lokaraj from India
Don Bradman is well clear on this particular list: he reached 90 on 29 occasions in Tests, and went on to three figures every single time. Next, with 18 centuries and no dismissals in the nineties, comes Michael Vaughan, with another Englishman, Ian Botham, next on 14. Polly Umrigar is one of three players with 12, alongside the Pakistanis Asad Shafiq and Ijaz Ahmed. The current pair of Dean Elgar of South Africa and Dinesh Chandimal of Sri Lanka have both scored 11 Test centuries without yet getting out in the nineties.

Was Abid Ali the oldest man to score a century in his first one-day international? asked Ishtiaq Ahmed from Pakistan
Abid Ali, who made 112 for Pakistan against Australia in Dubai last week, was the 15th man - the third from Pakistan - to score a century on ODI debut. At 31, he was the second oldest to achieve the feat: Michael Lumb was 34 when he hit 106 for England against West Indies in Antigua in 2013-14. Oddly, Lumb played only two more ODIs.