Is Mohammed Shami's 24 wickets in the 2023 World Cup a record?

Travis Head was the Player of the Match in both the World Cup final and the semi. Has anyone done this before? asked Chris Georgiou from Australia
Australia's trump card Travis Head was Player of the Match in the semi-final against South Africa in Kolkata, and also in the final against India in Ahmedabad. This double has actually been achieved three times previously. In 1983, India's Mohinder Amarnath won the award in the semi-final against England at Old Trafford and the final against West Indies at Lord's.

In 1996, Aravinda de Silva of Sri Lanka won it in the semi-final against India in Kolkata and the final against Australia in Lahore. And in 1999, the one and only Shane Warne picked up the award in the thrilling semi-final tie against South Africa at Edgbaston and in the final against Pakistan at Lord's.

Warne was also Man of the Match in the 1996 semi-final, against West Indies in Mohali.

Mohammed Shami took 24 wickets in this World Cup - was this a record? asked Ahmed Kashif from India
Mohammed Shami finished the 2023 World Cup as the leading wicket-taker with 24, one more than Australia's Adam Zampa. Looking back at previous tournaments, two Australians lead the way: Mitchell Starc collected 27 wickets in England in 2019, while Glenn McGrath had 26 in the West Indies in 2007. But Starc played ten matches and McGrath 11 - Shami only had seven.

Chaminda Vaas (2003), Muthiah Muralidaran (2007) and Shaun Tait 2007) all took 23 wickets in a single World Cup.

Shami's 7 for 57 in the semi-final against New Zealand in Mumbai were the best bowling figures in a World Cup knockout game (previously Gary Gilmour's 6 for 14 for Australia vs England at Headingley in 1975), and the fifth-best in all World Cup matches.

Starc, meanwhile, finished this tournament with 65 World Cup wickets, third overall behind McGrath (71) and Murali (68).

Daryl Mitchell scored two centuries against India in the World Cup. Has anyone scored two against a single opponent before? asked Keth Parker from New Zealand
New Zealand's Daryl Mitchell hit 130 in the group game against India in Dharamsala, and added 134 in the semi-final in Mumbai. The only man before this to score two separate centuries against the same opposition in a single World Cup was Sourav Ganguly in 2003, with 107 not out in India's group game against Kenya in Cape Town, and 111 not out in the semi-final in Durban.

In the 1988 Women's World Cup, when the teams met each other twice in the group stage, Australia's Ruth Buckstein scored 100 in Perth and 105 not out in Melbourne in their matches against Netherlands. In 2022, Nat Sciver-Brunt hit 109 not out in England's group game against Australia in Hamilton, and an undefeated 148 in the final in Christchurch. Both came in vain, as England lost both matches.

Has any bowler taken 100 wickets in one-day internationals on a single ground? asked Mohit Gupta from India
Three men have managed 100 or more wickets at a single ground in ODIs. Shakib Al Hasan leads the way with 131 at the Shere Bangla Stadium in Mirpur, while the Pakistan pace pair of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis took 122 and 114 wickets respectively in Sharjah.

Another Bangladeshi, Mashrafe Mortaza, took 94 wickets in ODIs in Mirpur. No one else is terribly close to three figures: Murali took 82 in Sharjah, and 75 at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

I believe Alastair Cook has scored the most Test runs as an opener. But who has scored the most at No. 3? asked David McLaren from Scotland
You're right that England's Alastair Cook scored the most runs from the top of the order in Tests - 11,845 in all (counting innings from No. 1 or No. 2 in the order). Sunil Gavaskar is next with 9607, and Graeme Smith third with 9030.

Leading the way at No. 3 in Tests is Kumar Sangakkara with 11,669, not far ahead of Rahul Dravid with 10,524; Ricky Ponting is third with 9904. In eighth place is Don Bradman, whose 5078 runs from No. 3 came at an average of 103.63.

For that list, click here. If you want to check the highest scorers from the other places in the batting order, use that last link, press "Return to query menu", and change the number in "Batting position" to the one you want.