Top 10 Highest Team Total in Cricket World Cup History

Four hundred runs used to be a fantasy in one-day cricket. Now it’s a Tuesday. Flatter pitches, two new balls, and fielding restrictions built for boundary-hitting have turned the 50-over World Cup into a run-scoring arms race and nine of the ten biggest totals in the tournament’s history have come since 2007.

Highest Team Total in Cricket World Cup

1) South Africa — 428/5 vs Sri Lanka

Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi — October 7, 2023

The current record holder. Quinton de Kock (100), Rassie van der Dussen (108), and Aiden Markram (106) all reached centuries in the same innings, with Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller adding late-order cameos to push South Africa past the 400 mark. Markram’s hundred came off just 49 balls — at the time, the fastest century in World Cup history.

2) Australia — 417/6 vs Afghanistan

WACA, Perth — March 4, 2015

David Warner’s 178 off 133 balls anchored the innings, with Steve Smith’s 95 and a rapid 39-ball 88 from Glenn Maxwell piling on late. Afghanistan were bowled out for 142, handing Australia a 275-run win — the largest winning margin in World Cup history at that point.

3) India — 413/5 vs Bermuda

Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain — March 19, 2007

The innings that broke the 400 barrier for the first time in World Cup history. Virender Sehwag (114), Yuvraj Singh (83), and Sachin Tendulkar (57 not out) tore into an under-strength Bermuda attack, sandwiched between two group-stage defeats that ultimately ended India’s tournament early.

4) South Africa — 411/4 vs Ireland

Manuka Oval, Canberra — 2015

Hashim Amla’s 159 and Faf du Plessis’s 109 laid the foundation, with David Miller and Rilee Rossouw finishing the innings at pace. South Africa went on to win by 201 runs.

5) India — 410/4 vs Netherlands

M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru — November 12, 2023

Playing their final league match on a nine-wins-from-nine run, India’s top five all passed fifty. Shreyas Iyer’s unbeaten 128 and KL Rahul’s 62-ball century — the fastest World Cup hundred by an Indian batter — put on 208 together, sealing a 160-run win over the Netherlands.

6) South Africa — 408/5 vs West Indies

Sydney Cricket Ground — February 27, 2015

AB de Villiers produced one of the great ODI innings, an unbeaten 162 that included a stretch of scoring so fast it remains one of the benchmark knocks of the format. South Africa won by 257 runs, and de Villiers went on to finish the tournament with 482 runs at a strike rate above 144.

7) New Zealand — 401/6 vs Pakistan

Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad — 2023

Proof that a huge total doesn’t guarantee a win. Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson built New Zealand’s innings to 401, but Fakhar Zaman’s unbeaten century carried Pakistan to a successful chase — a reminder of how much scoring rates have shifted on both sides of the innings in the modern game.

8) South Africa — 399/7 vs England

Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai — October 21, 2023

Heinrich Klaasen’s 61-ball century (109 off 67) and an unbeaten 75 from Marco Jansen built South Africa’s total, with the pair adding 151 in just 77 balls. England were bowled out for 170, handing South Africa a 229-run win — England’s heaviest ODI defeat on record.

9) Australia — 399/8 vs Netherlands

Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi — October 25, 2023

David Warner’s second century of the tournament (104) set the platform, before Glenn Maxwell produced a 40-ball hundred — still the fastest century in World Cup history — to push Australia past 399. The Netherlands were bowled out for 90, making the 309-run margin the largest in World Cup history.

10) Sri Lanka — 398/5 vs Kenya

1996 Cricket World Cup

The standard-setter of its era. Aravinda de Silva’s 145 and an explosive finish from Arjuna Ranatunga carried Sri Lanka to 398/5 — a total that stood as the highest in ODI cricket for close to a decade before the modern scoring boom overtook it.