Who scored the first century in a World Cup match?

Dom Sibley has now scored a century in six consecutive first-class matches. Where does that stand in the records - for first-class cricket and for the County Championship? asked Sandy Whitlock from England
Dominic Sibley's unbeaten 109 last week, while carrying his bat for Warwickshire against Hampshire at Edgbaston, put him on a select list of players who had scored centuries in six successive first-class matches: it had previously been done by Sid Barnes, David Boon, Don Bradman, Denis Compton, Nari Contractor, CB Fry, Jacques Kallis, Brian Lara, Mike Procter and Bob Simpson. Bradman had a separate run of seven matches with a hundred, which equalled the feat of Lancashire's Ernest Tyldesley in 1926.

But this is one of the few such lists on which Bradman does not come out on top. His fellow Australian, Bill Ponsford, had an incredible run of ten matches over two seasons in which he scored at least a hundred. His sequence, which included a quadruple-century, two triples and two doubles, deserves looking at in full: in 1926-27, he made 214 and 54 for Victoria against South Australia, 151 v Queensland, 352 of Victoria's record first-class total of 1107 against New South Wales, 108 and 64 v South Australia, and 12 and 116 v Queensland, before ending the season with 131 and 7 for an Australian XI against the Rest. Ponsford then started the 1927-28 summer with 133 for Victoria against South Australia, 437 v Queensland, 202 and 38 v NSW, and 336 v South Australia. The run was emphatically ended by two single-figure dismissals in the return match with NSW.

Bradman does hold the record for Tests. He reached 100 in six successive matches, all against England, in 1936-37 and 1938: Jacques Kallis, Mohammad Yousuf and Gautam Gambhir come next with five. Actually Bradman scored hundreds in eight successive Tests between 1936-37 and 1946-47 in which he batted, but he was injured at The Oval in 1938 and couldn't go in.

Sibley's current run is ongoing, which means he may yet move up the list. Five of his centuries have come in successive Championship matches, equalling the Warwickshire record set by Brian Lara in 1994. The BBC statistician Andrew Samson kindly informs me that there have been 14 other instances of five (two of them by Graham Gooch), while Tyldesley (in 1926) and Walter Hammond (1938) managed six, and Len Hutton seven in 1947. But Denis Compton set the record, earlier in that run-soaked 1947 summer, with eight centuries in successive County Championship matches.

Who scored the first century in a World Cup match? asked Michael Stevens from England
This one is not quite as simple as it might sound. The first World Cup, in 1975, kicked off with four matches on the same day - June 7 - all starting at 11am. Dennis Amiss scored 137 for England against India at Lord's in one of the opening matches, while Glenn Turner pounded an unbeaten 171 for New Zealand against East Africa at Edgbaston in another.

They still stopped for lunch in ODIs in those days, and when the players went off at 1pm Amiss had 98 (after 35 overs of the eventual 60) and Turner 82 (after 40). We don't have precise ball-by-ball data, but it's safe to say that Amiss got to three figures first - just. He reached 100 in the 37th over, and was out in the 51st.

Has any cricketer taken five wickets and made a century in all three formats of international cricket? asked Krishna Saha from Bangladesh
No one has yet managed a full set in all three formats - but two players have managed five out of six. Chris Gayle has hundreds in Tests, ODIs and T20Is, plus five-fors in Tests and ODIs - but his best bowling in T20Is is 2 for 15. More likely to complete the nap hand is Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh, who already has five-fors in all three and just lacks a T20I hundred - his highest score so far is 84, against Pakistan in Pallekele during the World T20 in September 2012.

No women have completed a full set either. Deandra Dottin of West Indies has hundreds and five-fors in both ODIs and T20Is, but hasn't yet played a Test.

How many players have finished on the losing side after scoring more than 150 in an ODI, as Imam-ul-Haq did last week? asked Mauro Freitas from Kuwait
Rather surprisingly, perhaps, Imam-ul-Haq's fine performance in Bristol the other day was the 17th occasion that a batsman had reached 150 in a one-day international innings but ended up on the losing side. The highest of all remains 194 not out, by the Zimbabwean Charles Coventry, against Bangladesh in Bulawayo in 2009.

Imam's score was the highest in a losing cause for Pakistan, which was previously 140, by Saeed Anwar against India in Dhaka in 1997-98.

I read somewhere that India has the highest number of centuries in men's ODIs. Which teams hold the record in Tests and T20Is? asked Kunal Roy from India
It's true that Indian batsmen have scored the most individual centuries in one-day internationals: 280, going into the World Cup. That's comfortably ahead of Australia (221, from a record 47 different batsmen) and Pakistan (200). Next come South Africa (179), West Indies (178), England and Sri Lanka (171), New Zealand (130), Zimbabwe (63), Bangladesh (50) and Ireland (35).

England lead the way in Tests with 865 centuries (by 167 different players), not far ahead of Australia (848). But England have played more matches - 1010 to Australia's 820 - so the Aussies are ahead on average; they are the only country to average more than a century a Test. Next come India (506 centuries from 533 Tests), West Indies (487 from 542), Pakistan (388 from 423), South Africa (379 from 432), New Zealand (293 from 433), Sri Lanka (263 from 283), Zimbabwe (59 from 107) and Bangladesh (57 from 114).

In T20Is, India and New Zealand have seven individual hundreds, and Australia six. In all men's internationals, Australia have had 1075 centuries, England 1037, and India 793.

Australia also lead the way in women's ODIs, with 52 hundreds to England's 51; New Zealand are next with 42. In women's Tests, it's England 41, Australia 32 (then India 12 and New Zealand 11), while England shade Australia and West Indies 3-2 in women's T20Is.