ICC Cricket World Cup Records

The ICC Cricket World Cup gets started on Thursday 5th October when defending champions England face New Zealand in a repeat of 2019’s final.

Ahead of the opening game, we take a look through some of the notable Cricket World Cup records since the tournament’s inception in 1975.

Most wins – Australia (5)

By far the most successful team in the 12 editions of the Cricket World Cup are Australia, who have amassed five tournament wins – including four of the last six.

The Australians first tasted victory in the 1987 edition of the tournament in India and Pakistan by defeating England by seven runs in the final, but their period of domination really started in 1999 when they thrashed Pakistan by 8 wickets at Lord’s to win the first of three successive World Cup titles.

That team characterised by the likes of Bret Lee, Ricky Ponting and Glenn McGrath was always going to perform well in major tournaments, and the current Australian team will be hoping they can add a sixth title in India this year.

Highest team score – Australia (417-6)

Another record held by the Aussies is the highest team score when they chalked up a staggering 417 runs for the loss of six wickets against Afghanistan in 2015.

That year was another significant one for Australia as they went on to win the World Cup on their home patch, but not before smashing the biggest score in World Cup history. David Warner led from the front with a brutal 178 from 133 balls, whilst Steve Smith (95) and Glenn Maxwell (88) also made meaningful contributions.

The score beat the record set by India in the 2007 World Cup by four runs, and also set the Australians up for a massive 275-run win on the day – which also remains the biggest winning margin in World Cup history too.

Most runs – Sachin Tendulkar (2278)

Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar holds the record for the most runs scored in Cricket World Cup fixtures, totting up a mesmerising 2278 across his 44 innings for his country.

To put that figure into perspective, the next highest number of runs in World Cup games is Ricky Ponting with 1743, then Kumar Sangakkara with 1532. Tendulkar’s average of 56.95 also trumps that of any other player in the top four, whilst his six centuries is only shared by fellow Indian Rohit Sharma.

Another record that the 2011 winner holds is the most 50s in the competition – with his 21 half centuries dwarfing that of second-place Shakib Al-Hasan with 12, contextualising how dominant a batsman Tendulkar was in his prime.

Highest individual score – Martin Guptill (237*)

Only two players have ever hit a double century in Cricket World Cup history. The first to achieve that feat was West Indies legend Chris Gayle, who blasted 215 from 147 balls in the 2015 World Cup against Zimbabwe. However, in the very same World Cup, Kiwi opener Martin Guptill transcended the feat a mere 34 days later.

The veteran Guptill scored a remarkable 237* off 163 balls against Chris Gayle’s West Indies side in the quarter final side to not only rewrite history at Gayle’s expense, but also dump them out of the competition. His score included a mind-boggling 24 fours and 11 sixes – the former of which also a World Cup record – as New Zealand thrashed their quarter final opponents by 143 runs.

Most wickets – Glenn McGrath

Another Aussie-held record comes in the form of their wicket-taking ability, with bowling legend Glenn McGrath amassing the most wickets in Cricket World Cup history. The right-arm seamer took 71 poles in his 39 World Cup matches en route to leading his side to three consecutive titles, as well as taking the winning wicket in the 2003 final.

McGrath also holds the record for the best bowling figures in a World Cup match, taking a sensational 7/15 against Namibia in 2003, whilst no player in history has ever won more than his three World Cup titles (share with Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist).