Nineties at Lord's, and the best Twenty20 bowling

Has any international player scored more nineties at Lord's than Brendon McCullum? asked Tom Picot from New Zealand

Brendon McCullum's run-a-ball 97 last week at Lord's, which followed his 96 there in 2004, makes him only the seventh person to have made two international nineties at cricket's most famous ground. The first was England's Frank Woolley, who managed it in the same Test - 95 and 93 against Australia in 1921. The others are England's Ken Barrington (91 against South Africa in 1965 and 97 against India in 1967), Tony Greig (96 against Australia in 1975, and 91 against them two years later) and Robin Smith (96 against Australia in 1989 and 90 against West Indies in 1995); Viv Richards of West Indies (both in ODIs: 97 against England in 1976 and 95 not out against Australia in the 1983 World Cup); and Australia's Mark Waugh, with 99 in the Test 1993 and 95 in an ODI in 1997.

What are the best bowling figures in Twenty20 cricket? asked Mubashir Mahmood from Pakistan

The best bowling figures in a Twenty20 international are 4 for 7, by New Zealand's Mark Gillespie against Kenya in Durban during last year's World Twenty20 championship. The best figures in any senior Twenty20 game are 6 for 14 by Pakistan's Sohail Tanvir, for Rajasthan Royals in their IPL match against Chennai Super Kings in Jaipur earlier this month.

I believe that Ravi Shastri has batted all five days of a Test. How many players have done this? asked Abhijit Dasgupta from the United States

Ravi Shastri did this for India against England in Calcutta in 1984-85. His 111 in the first innings lasted from the first day into the fourth - there was a lot of rain, and only a few overs were bowled on the second day - and he also had a short knock on the fifth day. In all, six players have achieved the feat. The others are ML Jaisimha, for India against Australia in Calcutta in 1959-60; Geoff Boycott, for England against Australia at Trent Bridge in 1977; Kim Hughes, for Australia against England in the Centenary Test at Lord's in 1980; Allan Lamb, for England against West Indies, also at Lord's, in 1984; and most recently by Andrew Flintoff, for England against India at Mohali in 2005-06. Hughes, uniquely, managed to hit a six on all five days of that 1980 match.

Which cricketer wrote a book called Hit Me For Six? asked James Wheatley from Leicester

This was the 1963 autobiography of the tearaway Jamaican fast bowler Roy Gilchrist, who took 57 wickets in 13 Tests for West Indies between 1957 and 1958-59. Gilchrist then fell out with the authorities - he was sent home from the tour of India in 1958-59 for bowling beamers and never played another Test, although he continued to terrorise batsmen in league cricket in Britain for many years.

During the 1955-56 West Indies tour of New Zealand Everton Weekes scored a century in the Test at the Basin Reserve, which was reported at the time as being his fifth consecutive hundred - where were the other four scored? asked Roy Riddle from New Zealand

The great West Indian Everton Weekes holds the record with five successive Test centuries - but these were scored against England in 1947-48 (141 in Kingston) and India in 1948-49 (128 in Delhi, 194 in Bombay, 162 and 101 in Calcutta, followed by 90 - run out - in Madras). What he did in New Zealand in 1955-56 was almost as impressive: he scored three successive centuries in the first three Tests - 123 in Dunedin, 103 in Christchurch, and 156 at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. His run that time came to an end when he was dismissed for 5 in the final Test in Auckland, in a match New Zealand went on to win - their first Test victory after 26 years (44 matches) of trying.

Who's the Australian player who started and finished his Test career by scoring a century? asked Joop van de Swaluw from the Netherlands

Excluding current players and the two players who scored a hundred in their only Test, only four men have scored a century in their first and last Test - and three of them are from Australia. Reggie Duff made 104 on debut against England in Melbourne in 1901-02, and 146 in his last Test, at the Oval in 1905; Bill Ponsford scored 110 on debut against England in Sydney in 1924-25, and finished with 266 at The Oval in 1934; and Greg Chappell made 108 on debut against England in Perth in 1970-71, and 182 in his final Test, against Pakistan in Sydney in 1983-84. The other man to do this is India's Mohammad Azharuddin, who made 110 on debut against England in Calcutta in 1984-85, and 102 in his 99th and last Test, against South Africa in Bangalore in 1999-2000.