The longest innings, and Vettori's unique feat

Which batsman has faced the most balls in a single one-day international innings? asked Sunidu Marasinghe from Sri Lanka

Actually the same man has played the two longest ODI innings in terms of balls. He's the former New Zealand opener Glenn Turner, who faced 201 deliveries for his 171 not out against East Africa at Edgbaston in the first World Cup in 1975. Just a week later he made 114 not out against India at Old Trafford, facing 177 balls that time. Next comes Pakistan's Mohsin Khan, whose 70 against West Indies in the 1983 World Cup semi-final at The Oval occupied 176 balls. All three of those performances were helped by each side's innings at the time being restricted to 60 overs rather than the now-conventional 50. The longest innings in a 50-over ODI is 172 balls, by Canada's Ashish Bagai in scoring 137 not out against Scotland in Nairobi in 2006-07. For a full list, click here.

Following on from Daniel Vettori's performance, how many Test captains are on the bowling honours board at Lord's? asked Tom Hainsworth from Australia

Rather surprisingly, the performance of Daniel Vettori in taking 5 for 69 in the first Test at Lord's represents the first occasion that a visiting captain has taken five or more wickets in a Test innings there. The England honours board is not overstocked with successful bowling captains either: Gubby Allen took 5 for 35 and 5 for 43 against India in 1936, and Bob Willis took 6 for 101 - the best figures by any Test captain at Lord's - against India in 1982.

What was unusual about England's batting in "Laker's Match", in 1956, that hadn't happened since 1899? asked Charles Lawson from Newcastle

That famous Ashes Test at Old Trafford in 1956 is best remembered for Jim Laker's astonishing performance in taking 19 of the 20 Australian wickets to fall, a record unlikely ever to be broken. The point about England's batting in that game was that the first five batsmen - Peter Richardson, Colin Cowdrey, David Sheppard, Peter May and Trevor Bailey - were all amateurs, something that hadn't happened since the Lord's Test of the 1899 Ashes series, when England's top five were Archie MacLaren, CB Fry, KS Ranjitsinhji, Charles Townsend and Stanley Jackson.

The great England batsman Len Hutton was given out "obstructing the field" in a Test at The Oval more than 50 years ago. What were the circumstances that caused his dismissal, and has anyone else been dismissed in the same manner? asked Keith D'Souza from Nigeria

This happened to Len Hutton in the final Test against South Africa at The Oval in 1951. Hutton top-edged a sweep against the offspinner Athol Rowan and the ball looped upwards. Worried that the ball would bounce onto his stumps, Hutton knocked it away, but in doing so prevented the wicketkeeper, Russell Endean, from making a catch. In a weird coincidence Endean, who was making his Test debut at The Oval, was also involved in Test cricket's next peculiar dismissal: he was out "handled the ball" against England in Cape Town in 1956-57. Hutton is still the only man to be given out obstructing the field in a Test, but there have been three cases in one-day internationals. The first was by Ramiz Raja, for Pakistan against England in Karachi in 1987-88. He knocked a fielder's return away when trying to complete the second run which would have taken him to 100 from the last ball of the match. Two years later, India's Mohinder Amarnath was the second man to go this way. He kicked the ball away from the bowler to avoid being run out against Sri Lanka in Ahmedabad in 1989-90 (Amarnath has also been out "handled ball" in an ODI). Finally another Pakistani, Inzamam-ul-Haq, fell this way against India in Peshawar in 2005-06.

Who has scored the most runs in the Indian Premier League? asked Vidyut Mahesh from Mumbai

The IPL's leading run-scorer is the Australian Shaun Marsh, the son of the former Test opener Geoff, who scored 616 runs in 11 matches for the Kings XI Punjab. Two others passed the 500-run mark: Gautam Gambhir of Delhi Daredevils, with 534, and Sanath Jayasuriya of Mumbai Indians, with 514. For a full list, click here.

Why did Bill Ponsford retire at the height of his powers? Your obituary just says he "deemed it appropriate" ... asked John Rogers

Australia's Bill Ponsford, the only man other than Brian Lara to pass 400 twice in first-class cricket, retired after the 1934 tour of England. Ponsford signed off from Test cricket by scoring 266 in his final match, against England at The Oval, as Australia regained the Ashes. Ponsford was only 34 when he retired, but at that time many players retired younger than they do now because of the need to find secure employment outside the game, which was not fully professional. Marc Fiddian's 1988 joint biography Ponsford and Woodfull says that "as a man with a young family, he felt obliged to spend more time at home. In addition, the nastiness of the Bodyline series had diminished Ponsford's enthusiasm for the game."