High-scoring one day internationals are so common place now that a target of 300 or more is no longer considered daunting. Hell, 434 was gunned down way back in 2006 and there’s no reason why teams cannot chase 300-plus totals considering the flat pitches, short boundaries and two new balls in the fifty over game now.
Yet, add in the pressure factor and a big stage and the ask is still daunting in these times. This is probably why the feat isn’t that common in a World Cup yet.
In fact, only nine times have teams successfully chased above 300 in a World Cup game. Surprisingly perhaps, none of it includes India or Australia, the two teams that have achieved the feat pretty regularly in bilaterals. England, who have done it 11 times in all in ODIs, have done it once in World Cups. India have done it 19 times in ODIs, the most by any team, but none of it has come in a World Cup. Australia have done it 10 times, the only team aside from India and England to do it in double digits, but again hasn’t done it yet in a World Cup.
South Africa have achieved the feat once in World Cups when they chased 300 against India in the 2011 World Cup game. But they were only chasing 297, so technically it doesn’t feature in this list. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have achieved the feat twice each. Bangladesh chased down 319 and 322 against Scotland and West Indies respectively in the 2015 and 2019 World Cups. Sri Lanka achieved the feat in 1992 when they gunned down 313 against Zimbabwe, the first team to achieve the feat in a World Cup. In 2015, they beat England by chasing down 310 at Wellington.
But the leader of the pack is surprisingly Ireland. The Irish have chased down 300-plus totals thrice in World Cups – England (2011), Netherlands (2011) and West Indies (2015). Their epic run-chase against England in the 2011 World Cup remains the highest total chased down in World Cup history – 328. In the same World Cup, they also chased down 307 against the Dutch. Four years later at Nelson, they stunned the Windies with a four-wicket win chasing 305 for a win.