Q&A session with cricket statistician Bharath Seervi

Hamilton Masakadza holds the record for having played most ODIs before taking part in a World Cup

1. Hamilton Masakadza, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja made their World Cup debuts in this World Cup after having played more than 100 ODIs in their career. What is the record for most ODIs played before playing a World Cup ODI? – Asked by Manish Achuth, India

Hamilton Masakadza played 144 ODIs before playing his first World Cup match against Zimbabwe on the second day of this World Cup. On the same day Rohit Sharma after playing 127 ODIs and Ravindra Jadeja after playing 111 ODIs played their first World Cup match against Pakistan. 144 matches by Masakadza is indeed the highest number of ODIs played by any player before playing his first World Cup ODI. The previous record was held by Shoaib Malik who appeared in 135 ODIs making his debut in World Cups. He made his debut in October 1999 but his first World Cup match came in 2007 in West Indies.

Irfan Pathan has played 120 ODIs and he is yet to play a single match in ODI World Cup. He may surpass Masakadza if he plays in 2019 World Cup with 25 ODIs in between these two World Cups.

2. South African batsmen added 96 runs in the last five overs against Zimbabwe in their first match in this World Cup. Is this the highest number of runs in last five over of an ODI inning? – Asked by @nareshwarnie, Twitter

David Miller and JP Duminy took South Africa from 243/4 to 339/4 in the last five overs. They scored 19 runs in 46th over, 16 runs in 47th, 30 runs in 48th, 12 runs in 49th and 19 in the 50th over.

This is easily overshadowed by the New Zealand side against the United States of America in ICC Champions Trophy of 2004. Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan smashed 110 runs in the last five overs. They scored 14 runs in 46th over, 27 runs each in 47th and 48th over, 16 in the 49th and 26 runs in the final over.

3. The top two individual scores in the match between Scotland and New Zealand were both from Scotland who were on losing side. When was the last time in an ODI that a team had top 2 run getters of the match but ended on the losing side? – Asked by Srinivas, India

Scotland team was bundled for 142 runs in 36.2 overs by Kiwi bowlers at Dunedin on February 17. Two batsmen from Scotland scored half-centuries – Matt Machan (56) and Richie Berrington (50). New Zealand chased the target in 24.5 overs with loss of seven wickets and their highest scorer was Kane Williamson with 38 runs. Hence, both the top two scores were by the losing team’s batsmen.

Last time this happened was on December 26, 2013 in a match between New Zealand and West Indies at Auckland. Brendon McCullum (51) and his brother Nathan McCullum (47) were the highest run scorers in the match that was won by West Indies whose highest scorer was Darren Sammy with 43 not out.

In World Cup 2011 between India and South Africa at Nagpur the highest scorers in the match were Sachin Tendulkar (111) and Virender Sehwag (73) for India but ended on the losing side. The third highest score was also from Indian team (Gambhir – 69) but shared with Jacques Kallis (also 69) from South Africa.

4. Is Denesh Ramdin's inning of 51 the ‘lowest’ top score in an ODI team total of 300+? – Asked by Srinivas, India

West Indies scored 310 runs at loss of six wickets in their quota of 50 overs and the highest score in their inning was 51 by Denesh Ramdin. The top three scores actually were 51 (Ramdin), 50 (Simmons) and 49 (Bravo). Yes, it is the ‘lowest’ top score in a total of over 300 runs in ODIs. The previous ‘lowest’ top score in this case was 54 for South Africa (by Lance Klusener) against Sri Lanka at Lahore in 1997. South Africa had scored 311/9 in 50 overs with two more batsmen scoring 50s.

5. Who are the batsmen who scored centuries on their World Cup debut? – Asked by many!

In this World Cup so far, two players have scored centuries in their first World Cup match – Aaron Finch and David Miller. In the past World Cups, 13 players achieved this feat – Glenn Turner and Dennis Amiss in 1975, Trevor Chappell and Allan Lamb in 1983, Geoff Marsh in 1987, Andy Flower in 1992, Gary Kirsten and Nathan Astle in 1996, Craig Wishart, Andrew Symonds and Scott Styris in 2003, Jeremy Bray in 2007 and Virat Kohli in 2011.

Please check my article on this topic for more details.