World Cup Highest Score

The men's Cricket World Cup has seen some of the most iconic and memorable moments during its 48-year history, with each of the 12 editions so far providing a platform for the very best of the sport to shine. Beyond just the famous finals and tense knockout matches, certain statistics littered throughout the history of the tournament have held a particular appeal for all cricket fans.

The tournament has been thoroughly dominated by Australia, who have lifted the famous trophy 5 times, and remain the only team to have completed a hat-trick of tournament victories. They also possess a remarkable unbeaten streak of 34 matches between the 1999 and 2011 World Cups, and possess the only 3 cricketers to have won 3 World Cup titles — Adam Gilchrist, Glenn McGrath, and the man with the most World Cup appearances, Ricky Ponting.

McGrath is also the all-time leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 71 wickets and the best-ever figures of 7/15 against Namibia in 2003. McGrath is one of 7 bowlers to have taken multiple 5-fers in World Cup cricket, but Mitchell Starc sits alone at the top with 3 in his career. The first ever 5-wicket-haul in World Cup history was also taken by an Aussie – Dennis Lillee against Pakistan in 1975. Astonishingly, his teammate Gary Gilmour took consecutive 5-fers in the semifinals and finals of that inaugural edition, but the second one would be in a losing cause as West Indies and Clive Lloyd lifted the trophy.

The World Cup would have to wait until 1987 to witness the first of nine hat-tricks, with Chetan Sharma clean-bowling three New Zealand batters in succession in Nagpur. However, only one cricketer has taken 4 wickets in a row in World Cup cricket, and the same player is the only bowler with two World Cup hat-tricks. Lasith Malinga of Sri Lanka dismissed 4 South African batters in 2007 when the Proteas were 5-down and needed only 5 runs. The feat nearly earned Sri Lanka a famous win from the jaws of defeat, but it wasn’t to be. Malinga would enjoy another hat-trick against African opposition with Kenya in 2011.

On the batting front, the first ever World Cup century was scored by Dennis Amiss at the Home of Cricket against India. It would be the first of 196 World Cup centuries, 6 of which belong to Sachin Tendulkar and another 6 to Rohit Sharma, the two players tied for the most in World Cup history. Tendulkar also holds the record for most runs in World Cup history, the only man with over 2000. There have been only two double centuries, both coming in the 2015 edition, when Chris Gayle finally broke that barrier, only for his West Indies to be on the receiving end as Martin Guptill hammered 237 not out a few weeks later.

There are certainly some more impressive batting feats. Lloyd led from the front with the first ever century in a World Cup final in 1975, while Kapil Dev's famous 175 not out was the first 150+ score in the tournament. Kumar Sangakkara set the standard with 4 consecutive centuries in 2015, but Rohit overtook him with 5 in 2019.

Herschelle Gibbs owns the only ODI World Cup innings with 6 sixes in a single over, taking down Netherlands' Daan van Bunge during a group stage match at Sabina Park in 2007. Although Yuvraj Singh's takedown of Stuart Broad in a different World Cup later that year remains more famous, Gibbs will always be the first player to accomplish the feat in international cricket.

The history of the World Cup has only seen 5 tied matches, first with the infamous 1999 semifinal between South Africa and Australia, followed by the huge D/L error made by the Proteas four years later against Sri Lanka. India and England would combine for 676 runs in Nagpur in 2011, but the most famous occasion is certainly the 2019 World Cup final, which is the only World Cup match decided by a Super Over, and further by a boundary countback.