The duck hunters

Nathan Astle
Innings: 22
Ducks: 5
Astle got the 1996 World Cup going with a century in the opening match, before his form deserted him on cricket's biggest stage. Two blobs sandwiched scores of 1, 2, 6, 1, 4, 4 and 2 over two World Cups. In 2003, he had an unbeaten century against Zimbabwe, but that was promptly followed by two more zeroes in the Super Sixes.

Ijaz Ahmed
Innings: 26
Ducks: 5
Ijaz scored five zeroes in four World Cups. The first of those was in perhaps the most significant washed-out ODI of all - against England in 1992, when Pakistan escaped with a point despite being bowled out for 74 and earned a point that helped them make the semi-finals. The last was in another significant game - the defeat in 1999 to Bangladesh, which speeded up their entry into the Test club.

Kyle McCallan
Innnings:8
Ducks: 4
Offspinning allrounder McCallan took 10 wickets at 23.30 to finish as one of Ireland's most effective bowlers in the 2007 World Cup. He was less effective with the bat: starting with two zeroes and finishing with another. McCallan had only five ducks in his three-year ODI career, but four of them came in just over a month in the West Indies.

Keith Arthurton
Innings: 13
Ducks: 4
Whenever the conversation veers to woeful batting performances at the World Cup, West Indian batsman Arthurton's name pops up. His 1996 double dose of a batting average of 0.40 and bowling average of 106.00 will be tough to top.

AB de Villiers
Innings: 15
Ducks: 4
He may well be the world's best all-format batsman, but de Villiers could end up with an unwanted record. His feast-and-famine 2007 World Cup included four zeroes and a couple of masterclasses - an audacious 92 in pursuit of Australia's 377, and a brutal 146 against West Indies. He faced few problems in 2011, though, with two more hundreds, and looked a class apart in the quarter-final before his run-out precipitated another early South Africa exit.

Honourable mention:
Kenya's Shem Ngoche: three balls faced in the World Cup, three ducks.