The International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s Cricket World Cup, commonly known as the Cricket World Cup, was inaugurated, as a 60-overs-a-side competition, in 1975. However, according to Guinness World Records, in the better part of half a century, the highest total in any Cricket World Cup match was posted by Australia at the Western Australia Cricket Association (WACA) Ground in Perth on March 4, 2015 in the shortened, 50-overs-a-side version of the event.
In a Pool A match, Afghan captain Mohammad Nabi won the toss and elected to field first but, despite playing on one of the fastest pitches in the world, his bowlers were soon all at sea as opening batsman David Warner and, later, Steven Smith and Glenn Maxwell set about the attack. Warner scored 178 off 133 balls, including 19 fours and five sixes, and Smith scored 95 off 98 balls, including eight fours and one six. Together, they put on 260 for the second wicket before Warner skied a cross-seam delivery from Shapoor Kadran to Nabi at mid-on.
The arrival of Maxwell, one of the fastest scorers in the game, offered little respite for the beleaguered Afghan bowlers as the Melburnian demonstrated his shot-making ability with a quickfire 88 off 39 balls, including six fours and seven sixes.All told, Australia made 417-6 off their 50 overs – thereby beating the previous record, 413-5, set by India against Bermuda at Queen’s Park Oval In Port of Spain, Trinidad eight years previously – at a run rate of 8.34.
In reply, Afghanistan failed to cope with the fearsome pace of Mitchell Johnson, who took 4-22 off his 7.3 overs, or the unplayable, inswinging yorkers bowled by Mitchell Starc, who took 2-18 off his six overs. They were eventually dismissed for just 142, thereby suffering the widest-margin defeat in World Cup history.