England had scored 227 by the 25th over of their recent match against Ireland. What's the highest score for that point of an ODI innings? asked Peter Fairfax from England
You're talking about the third match of the recent series, in Bristol, which sadly was rained off with England looking set for a monster total after reaching 280 for 4 in 31 overs.
After 25 overs, England had amassed 227 for 3. We know of only three higher scores at that stage of a one-day international: West Indies had 236 for 4 against England in Grenada in 2018-19 (England still won), Sri Lanka 233 for 0 against England at Headingley in 2006, and South Africa 229 for 2 against Australia in the 872-run match in Johannesburg in 2005-06.
After 30 overs in Bristol, England had scored 272 for 3, a number exceeded only in the matches mentioned above in Johannesburg (South Africa 279 for 2) and Headingley (Sri Lanka 278 for 0). The highest known at the 40-over mark is England's 356 for 3 against Australia at Trent Bridge in 2018; South Africa scored 353 for 3 against Netherlands in St Kitts during the 2007 World Cup (this match was reduced to 40 overs a side).
I should point out that there are many matches for which we don't have ball-by-ball details, so can't pinpoint the score after a certain number of overs. But a lot of the missing ones are old games, from when huge totals were less common, so it's unlikely - but not impossible - that there are any additions to the above list.
Who has scored the most runs in a single World Cup? asked Pranab Mukherjee from India
This list is still led by Sachin Tendulkar, who piled up 673 runs in the 2003 World Cup. Matthew Hayden came close with 659 at the next one, in 2007. Three men topped 600 at the most recent World Cup, in England in 2019 - Rohit Sharma scored 648, with a record five centuries, David Warner 647, and Shakib Al Hasan 606.
There are ten further instances of a batter scoring 500 or more runs in a single World Cup.
Just to keep the bowlers happy, the record for a single World Cup tournament is 27 wickets, by Mitchell Starc in 2019; he passed the record of another Australian, Glenn McGrath, who took 26 in 2007. For that list, click here.
Is it right that Graeme Hick was the last man to score 1000 runs in May? asked Dave Friston from England
It's not quite right, if you stick to the exact wording of the question. Graeme Hick is the last man to score 1000 first-class runs in an English season before the end of May in 1988, but 410 of his runs came in April. The only men to score 1000 or more entirely in May are WG Grace in 1895, when he was 46, Wally Hammond in 1927, and the Lancashire left-hander Charlie Hallows in 1928.
Apart from Hick, the following also reached 1000 before the end of May, with some of the runs coming in April: Tom Hayward in 1900, Don Bradman in both 1930 and 1938, Bill Edrich in 1938, and Glenn Turner in 1973.
Which batter has collected the most ducks in the World Cup? asked Jamie Robertson from England
Two men lead the way in this mournful list with five ducks in World Cup matches: Nathan Astle of New Zealand, and Pakistan's Ijaz Ahmed. Astle did make two World Cup hundreds, while Ijaz ended up with a winner's medal in 1992, so it wasn't all bad news for them.
Seven men have collected four World Cup ducks, including England's 2019 Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan (two of his ducks came for Ireland in 2007). One of the others with four, the West Indian Keith Arthurton, bagged three of his during a horror stretch in the 1996 tournament, in which his scores were 1, 0, 0, 1 and 0.
She might not thank us for pointing it out, but actually a woman leads the way overall. Denmark's Susanne Neilsen had only 11 innings in World Cups, but she was out for nought in six of them. Five other women have collected five ducks in World Cup matches.
What's the highest run-aggregate in a one-day international in which both sides lost all ten wickets? asked Varun Reddy Sevva from India
This question came about when you spotted that the website's list of the highest run-aggregates in ODIs, which goes down to 650, did not include any matches in which both sides lost ten wickets. But the highest in which 20 wickets went down just misses that list: there were 642 runs in a 2016-17 match in Greater Noida, when Afghanistan were all out for 338 off the last ball of their innings, and Ireland replied with 304 in 47.3 overs.
The World Cup record was set in Taunton in 2019, when Australia (307) beat Pakistan (266) in a match of 573 runs and 20 wickets. The record in all List A cricket is 699 runs, in the Ford Trophy game between Auckland (356) and Canterbury (343) at Eden Park in 2012-13.
Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo's stats team helped with some of the above answers.
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