Which player has appeared in the most World Cup matches overall?

Who is the oldest man to play in the IPL? And the youngest? asked Dipak Chowdhury from India
The oldest player to appear in the IPL is the Australian unorthodox slow left-armer Brad Hogg, who was 92 days past his 45th birthday when he played for Kolkata Knight Riders against Gujarat Lions in Kolkata in May 2016. Hogg was still playing in Australia's Big Bash in 2017-18, when he was nearly 47, although he did not play last season.

The second-oldest IPL player is legspinner Pravin Tambe, who was 44 years 219 days old when he turned out for Gujarat Lions against Royal Challengers in Bangalore, also in May 2016. Tambe had been plucked from nowhere to make his debut for Rajasthan Royals in 2013, when he was already 41; he had never played a first-class match at the time, although he did later make two appearances for Mumbai. Muttiah Muralitharan was 42 when he played his last IPL match, for RCB in 2014.

The youngest IPL player is the Bengal legspinner Prayas Ray Barman who was only 16 years 157 days old when he made his debut for RCB against Sunrisers in Hyderabad last month. He broke the record set in April 2018 by Afghan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman Zadran, who was 11 days past his 17th birthday when he played for Kings XI Punjab against Delhi Daredevils in Mohali. Thanks to Shiva Jayaraman from ESPNcricinfo's stats team for his help with this one.

Which batsman has scored more than 5000 runs in T20 cricket without ever playing in the IPL? asked David Howe from Belgium
By the look of this table from ESPNcricinfo's record pages, there are three batsmen - of a total of 49 as I write - who have amassed more than 5000 runs in senior T20 cricket without any in the IPL. They are the Pakistan pair of Ahmed Shehzad, who has made 5720 T20 runs, and the mercurial middle-order batsman Umar Akmal, who has 5430. Bangladesh's hard-hitting opener Tamim Iqbal has 5225: he was on the books of Pune Warriors for a while, but rather surprisingly never actually got a game in the IPL. Chris Gayle has a healthy lead overall, with more than 12,500 runs: no one else has yet reached 10,000.

I know that Deryck Murray was twice out in the nineties in Tests, but never made a century. Has anyone had more nineties than that without a ton? asked Kenrick Johnson from Trinidad
The long-serving West Indian wicketkeeper Deryck Murray was out for 91 against India in Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1974-75, after falling for 90 against Australia in Bridgetown in 1972-73. He is one of 13 players who reached the nineties twice in Tests without ever making it to three figures: the others are Tommy Andrews, Alick Bannerman and Shane Warne of Australia, Tim Bresnan and Geoff Miller of England, Asim Kamal and Sami Aslam of Pakistan, plus Adam Bacher (South Africa), Andy Blignaut (Zimbabwe), Chetan Chauhan (India), Derek Sealy (West Indies), and the current Sri Lankan player Dilruwan Perera. Both Asim Kamal and Warne had a top score of 99.

There's actually a case for saying that Murray leads the way: he also made 95 for the Rest of the World against England at Headingley in 1970, in a match marketed as a Test at the time, but subsequently ruled unofficial.

With the World Cup looming, I wondered who had played the most matches in it overall? asked Andrew Hayes from London
The leader on this particular list is Australia's Ricky Ponting, who appeared in 46 different matches in the World Cup, including four finals. That's one more than Sachin Tendulkar, while the Sri Lankan pair of Mahela Jayawardene and Muttiah Muralitharan come next with 40 apiece. Glenn McGrath played 39, but just shades Murali as the World Cup's leading wicket-taker, 71 to 68. Tendulkar leads the way for the batsmen with 2278 runs, with Ponting next on 1743.

I noticed that Kagiso Rabada dismissed Kaushal Silva in five successive innings in the 2016-17 series in South Africa. Was this a record? asked Michael Andrews from South Africa
Kagiso Rabada's dominance of Sri Lanka's Kaushal Silva in South Africa in 2016-17 - after Vernon Philander dismissed Silva in the first innings of the series, Rabada accounted for him in each of the remaining five - is not quite as rare as one might have thought: this was the 45th (and most recent) instance of a bowler taking the same player's wicket five times running in Tests. The great Pakistan batsman Hanif Mohammad features twice on the list: he was dismissed in five successive innings in 1957-58 by the West Indian tearaway Roy Gilchrist, and also by the New Zealand left-arm seamer Richard Collinge in 1964-65.

But there have been seven cases of six in a row, most recently by another South African, Makhaya Ntini, at home in 2005-06, when Australia's Matthew Hayden was the unfortunate batsman. The other batsmen dismissed six successive times were: Walter Read of England (dismissed by Australia's Charles Turner in 1887-88), India's Dilip Vengsarkar (by Imran Khan for Pakistan in 1982-83), Greg Matthews of Australia (by New Zealand's Richard Hadlee in 1985-86), India's Kris Srikkanth (by Wasim Akram of Pakistan in 1989-90), Graeme Hick of England (by West Indies' Curtly Ambrose in Hick's maiden Test series, in 1991), and West Indies' Daren Ganga (by Shaun Pollock of South Africa in 1998-99).