The oldest one-day side, and hundreds from No. 6

Is it true that the USA side for their Champions Trophy match against Australia was the oldest team to have ever been fielded in an ODI? asked Saurabh Sancheti

Yes, indeed it was: the average of that side at the Rose Bowl was around 35 years and seven months. It was appreciably older than the USA side that played in the first match of the Champions Trophy, as it included Donovan Blake, 42, and 38-year-old Nasir Javed, in place of Clayton Lambert, 42, and Jignesh Desai - a sprightly 30 - who played in that first game, against New Zealand. The venerable Holland team that played in the 1996 World Cup fills the next three spots on the table, but the oldest one-day side fielded by a Test nation was by England, against New Zealand at Wellington in 1974-75. Its average age was a touch under 33 years, and it included Fred Titmus, 42, and John Edrich, 37.

I watched Abdul Razzaq score a century against Zimbabwe the other day after coming in at No. 6. Has anyone else scored a one-day century from so low in the order? asked Kamal Ghimire from Kathmandu, Nepal

Razzaq's knock at Multan was the 12th one-day century from No. 6 in the batting order, two of them by Chris Cairns and the most famous one by Kapil Dev, who blasted 175 not out against Zimbabwe at Tunbridge Wells during the 1983 World Cup, after coming to the wicket when India were tottering at 9 for 4 (they were soon 17 for 5). But two batsmen have managed a one-day hundred from No. 7: Mohammad Kaif, with 111 not out for India against Zimbabwe in Colombo in 2002-03, and Hashan Tillakaratne, 100 for Sri Lanka v West Indies at Sharjah in 1995-96.

Which player has been out most often for the unlucky number of 13 in Tests and ODIs? asked Ankush Dharmale from Bangalore

The leader in this list is Mike Atherton, who was out for 13 seven times in Tests. Athers is just ahead of Graham Gooch, Allan Lamb, Arjuna Ranatunga, Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh, with five apiece. In ODIs Sourav Ganguly and Jonty Rhodes have both made 13 eight times, while Rahul Dravid, Desmond Haynes and Guy Whittall have seven.

Has there ever been an ODI innings in which two different bowlers took five wickets each? asked Donald Wright from Reading

It turns out that it has only happened once - and the bowlers concerned are pretty unexpected ones. It was a match between England and Australia at Edgbaston in 1977 - and England were bowled out for 171 by the dynamic duo of medium-pacers Greg Chappell (5 for 20) and Gary Cosier (5 for 18). It didn't do the Aussies much good: they were bowled out for just 70 and lost by 101 runs. As you might expect, it's rather more frequent in Tests: to date there have been 48 instances of a pair of bowlers taking five wickets in the same innings.

I know the record for centuries in the same Test innings is five, but have three batsmen ever passed 150 in the same innings? asked Derek Capes from Adelaide

This has only happened twice - first by England against Australia at The Oval in 1938, when the eventual total of 902 for 7 was a new Test record that stood for nearly 60 years. Len Hutton famously scored 364 in that innings, but there were also sizable contributions from Maurice Leyland, who scored 187 (and put on 382 with Hutton) and Joe Hardstaff junior, who made 169 not out (and helped Hutton add 115 for the sixth wicket). India repeated the feat against Sri Lanka at Kanpur in 1986-87, when their 676 for 7 included big hundreds from Sunil Gavaskar (176), Mohammad Azharuddin (199) and Kapil Dev (163). Rather surprisingly, there wasn't quite a repeat when Sri Lanka broke the innings-total record with 952 for 6 against India in Colombo in 1997-98: Sanath Jayasuriya made 340 and Roshan Mahanama 225, but Aravinda de Silva made only 126.

Marcus Trescothick has scored eight hundreds in ODIs, but England have lost five of those matches - does anyone have a worse record than that? asked R Murali Narayanan from Singapore

Marcus Trescothick and Herschelle Gibbs have both made five one-day centuries in losing causes, but Gibbs has made eight that contributed to wins too, against Trescothick's three. The only person with more losing hundreds is Sachin Tendulkar, with eight, but since he's made 28 when India won, we should probably let him off! Two players, though, scored four one-day hundreds and finished on the losing side each time - Robin Smith of England and Zimbabwe's Andy Flower. Two other Zimbabweans, Alistair Campbell and Grant Flower, scored four centuries in matches they lost - but they both also hit two hundreds in games that Zimbabwe managed to win.