The number of match-winning ninth-wicket partnerships in World Cup history, of which Mahmudullah and Shafiul Islam's 58 to slamdunk England into the losers' basket in Chittagong was the second highest, behind Bichel and Bevan's guiding Australia to victory, also against England, eight years ago with a deeply irritating/coolly heroic stand of 73 (delete according to national allegiance). Lagging behind are Allan Lamb and Neil Foster's 37 to see England to a rare triumph against West Indies in 1987, and Jeremy Coney and John Bracewell's immortal unbroken stand of 7 to secure victory for the Kiwis against England in 1983. Bangladesh's victory was only the third time in World Cup history that a team has won after needing more than 50 when their eight wicket fell.
Also: Number of copies of the DVD box set Asif Mujtaba's Greatest Innings sold since its release in 1997. All four were purchased online and signed for by a certain "Mr A Mutjaba".
Mar 15, 2011

The percentage of wickets in the 1987 World Cup that fell to run-outs, a tournament record, despite the fact that Inzamam-ul-Haq did not make his World Cup debut until the following competition. Out of a total of 385 dismissals in 1987, 64 involved batsmen trudging away from the crease visibly swearing, looking stroppily over their shoulders and facially apportioning blame to their partners, the umpire or the cruel hand of fate. This marked the start of a golden age of appalling World Cup running between the wickets - 13% of wickets in the 1991-92 and 1995-96 tournaments were run-outs, whilst no other World Cup can claim more than 10%, despite some magnificently school-boyish mid-pitch mix-ups in this tournament.
Also: Kamran Akmal's score, out of 100, in his school wicketkeeping exams. He has sat retakes on 12 occasions since, with a highest score of 19.3.
Also: What Alan Mullally's Test bowling average would have been if there had been no batsmen facing him.
Mar 13, 2011

Ross Taylor's strike rate, in runs per 100 balls, during the last 16 balls of his Pallekele Powerblast against Pakistan. After plinking his way to 69 off 108, with just four fours - one of them courtesy of Kamran Akmal mistaking the ball for an endangered blue-crowned motmot bird from Suriname and not wanting to touch it ‒ the Wellington Wowitzer hit seven sixes and four more fours, and a total of 62 runs, off those 16 balls. It is fair to say that he shifted gears.
Also:The amount of time, in days, of psychological counselling that Perth scoreboard operator Gilberto Strafehound underwent before he was able to return to his post after working during Chris Tavare's two innings of 89 in 466 minutes and 9 in 127 minutes in the 1982-83 Ashes Test at the WACA.
Also: Don Bradman's batting average in games of kitchen cricket against his wife, Jessie, between 1935, when he first made her bowl an apple to him, and 1996, when he retired.
Mar 9, 2011

The most number of times a batsman has been run out in World Cup history. Take a guess who it is was… right first time, it was indeed Inzamam-ul-Haq. Next best: Asanka Gurusinha, with six run-outs. Now, can anyone spot some kind of physical link between these two fine players that might explain why they are the undisputed Bradman and Sobers of being run out in World Cups? Anyone? (The use of the word "chunky" is acceptable in your answer.) Gurusinha was run out for 35% of his World Cup dismissals, impressively trumping Inzi's 30%. The Multan Mountain can also chuck a couple of stumpings into the bargain, meaning that he was caught out of his ground in 36% of his career World Cup dismissals, enabling him to sneak ahead of the Colombo colossus, who was never stumped in the World Cup. The great Pakistani's 36% World Cup figure compares compared with 17.5% over his entire ODI career - Inzamam clearly raised his inept-running-between-the-wickets game for the big occasion.
Also: The number of teeth Tillakaratne Dilshan lost during the course of the research and development phase for his trademark scoop shot.
Mar 6, 2011

The number of Sri Lankans caught at third man in the first over of the momentous 1996 World Cup semi-final in Calcutta. As Oscar Wilde himself wrote: "To lose one opener caught at third man in the first over of a World Cup semi-final may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose both looks like fantastically cavalier recklessness guaranteed to appeal to the neutral spectator."
Also: The number of divisions of the Calcutta fire brigade required to attend to the stadium by the end of that game.
Also: The number of times schoolboy batsmen in England being brought up to play the game properly are allowed to be caught at third man before being expelled from school.
Mar 3, 2011

Legendary 1996 UAE captain Sultan Zarawani's highest World Cup score, an 18-ball encyclopaedia of batsmanship against New Zealand that included the master's only international boundary.
Also: The total number of runs Sultan Zarawani scored in his other five ODI innings.
Also: The number of times in the 0.2 seconds between Allan Donald's bouncer pitching and Allan Donald's bouncer clonking Sultan Zarawani on the head in the UAE v South Africa game in 1996 that Sultan Zarawani thought: "Not wearing a helmet is starting to look like rather ill-founded overconfidence."
Feb 28, 2011

The number of balls Sunil Gavaskar would have had to face to equal Sachin Tendulkar's ODI record score of 200, had he continued batting at the rate at which he scored his infamous 36 not out in the first ever World Cup match at Lord's in 1975.
Also: The approximate runs per over India found themselves requiring towards the end of Gavaskar's masterclass of surreal anti-batting.
Also: The number of spectators treated by first-aid staff at Lord's for minor facial injuries after falling asleep during Gavaskar's innings and inadvertently headbutting the seat in front of them.
Feb 25, 2011

Lowest total defended to win a World Cup match - Zimbabwe restricted England to 125 all out at Albury in 1992, inspired by Eddo Brandes' 4 for 21.
Also: The number of headlines in the English press the following day focusing on Brandes being a chicken farmer, rather than an international bowler.
Feb 22, 2011

Number of weeks taken to confirm pre-tournament near-certainties Australia as 2007 World Cup champions.
Also: The number of close or slightly close matches in those seven weeks.
Also: The number of people in the universe who thought that one good match per week made for a ceaselessly riveting tournament. Six of them were confused Bolivian farmers who misheard the question.
Feb 19, 2011

Number of runs scored by Mike Gatting in the 1987 World Cup final, before attempting a reverse-sweep that has gone down as "the single greatest act of folly in British history" (Exaggeration Monthly magazine).
Also: The number of English heads, in millions, which simultaneously smacked into coffee tables one second after Gatting's attempted reverse-sweep. Seismologists registered a significant worldwide earth tremor due to the combined effects of the head clunkings in England and Gatting stomping off the ground in Calcutta.
Feb 17, 2011