The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions
about (almost) any aspect of cricket. This week it's a World Cup
special
Who has made the highest score in the World Cup, and who's scored most
runs in it? asked Davey Robertson from Catford

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Gary Kirsten holds the World Cup record for the highest individual score of 188 not out against United Arab Emirates
© Cricinfo Ltd
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The highest individual score is 188 not out, by South Africa's Gary
Kirsten, against the United Arab Emirates at
Rawalpindi in 1995-96. The highest score against a Test-playing
country is 183, by Sourav Ganguly for India v Sri Lanka
at
Taunton in 1999. For a full list of the highest World Cup scores,
click here.
As for the second part of your question,
Sachin Tendulkar is well clear at
the top of the list of
World Cup
runscorers, with 1732 - 651 ahead of the next-best, Javed Miandad's
1083. Three other men have passed 1000 - Aravinda de Silva (1064), Viv
Richards (1013) and Mark Waugh (1004) - while Ricky Ponting had 998 before
the 2007 tournament got under way.
Who has taken the most wickets in World Cups? asked Nathan
Roberts from Adelaide
The only man to have taken more than 50 wickets in the World Cup is
Pakistan's
Wasim Akram, with
55.
Glenn McGrath of
Australia currently has 45, one more than India's
Javagal Srinath, who played at
the last four World Cups and will be an ICC referee at this one. For a
list of the World Cup's leading wicket-takers,
click here.
Who has played the most matches in the World Cup? asked
Christine from Belfast
Wasim Akram leads the way here
too: he played 38 matches in the World Cup, over the five tournaments from
1987-88 to 2002-03.
Aravinda
de Silva of Sri Lanka is next with 35. Before this World Cup started,
Sachin Tendulkar had made 33
appearances and
Inzamam-ul-Haq 32. For a
full list of the players making the most World Cup appearances,
click here.
Who's the youngest person to appear in the World Cup? And the oldest?
asked Jyoti Prasad from Bangalore
Four 17-year-olds have played in the World Cup, including Javed Miandad in
the very first one, in 1975 - but the youngest player ever to appear is
Talha Jubair of
Bangladesh, who was only 70 days past his 17th birthday when he opened the
bowling against West Indies
at
Benoni in 2002-03. The other 17-year-olds were
Sudath Pasqual
of Sri Lanka in 1979, and
Thomas Odoyo of Kenya in
1995-96. For a full list of the World Cup's youngest players,
click here.
The oldest man to appear in a World Cup match was Holland's
Nolan Clarke, at 47
years 257 days in 1995-96, followed by 44-year-old
John Traicos of Zimbabwe in
1991-92.
click
here for a list of the World Cup's oldest players.
Which country has won the most World Cup matches in a row? Is it West
Indies? asked Ralph Manville from Barbados

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Australia are on a roll with 12 consecutive wins in World Cup matches
© Getty Images
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West Indies won nine World Cup matches in a row in 1975 and 1979,
including both finals, before losing their first match of the 1983
competition - to India, who beat them in the final later on too. But the
World Cup record is 12 successive wins - and it's a run which is not
finished yet. Australia have won all their 12 matches since the 1999
final, including all their games in the 2002-03 tournament.
Click here for
more details.
Which ground has staged the most World Cup matches? asked
Norman Chappell from Bradford
The answer to that one is quite a surprise, although I'm guessing by your
location that you might know already! The ground which has staged the most
World Cup matches is
Headingley, Leeds, with 12 -
one more than Edgbaston, Old Trafford and Trent Bridge. Lord's has only
staged ten matches (four of them finals), as has The Oval. The leading
non-English grounds are Karachi and Lahore, with six.
Click here for a
full list.
And there's an addition to last week's list of players
who scored a century in a domestic final at Lord's but didn't win the
match award, from John Price "This also happened to Phil Weston of Gloucestershire in the 2004 C&G
Trophy final
at
Lord's. Weston made 110 not out as his side won by eight wickets, but
the award went to Vikram Solanki, who had earlier made 115 for
Worcestershire."
Steven Lynch is the deputy editor of The Wisden Group. If you want to Ask Steven a question, use our feedback form. The most interesting questions will be answered here each week. Unfortunately, we can't usually enter into correspondence about individual queries.