Abandoned matches, centuries after being dropped early and most centuries in the World Cup

I noticed the recent ODI between Scotland and Ireland in Dubai which was abandoned without a ball being bowled is accorded full ODI status by Cricinfo (ODI no. 3584) Is this correct? Even though there was a toss I thought "play" had to be called at least? - Paul Goslin

No. after an ICC ruling, 'play' does not have to be called now and the completion of the toss constitutes a 'match played' for record and statistical purposes. This emanates from the legal case of John Gleeson, who played 29 Tests but was granted a 30th, for accounting purposes, by including the abandoned Test at Melbourne in 1971. At the time 30 Tests was the threshold for a pension in the Australian system. - Martin Briggs/Charles Davis

How many players have gone on to score centuries after being dropped on zero? - Ryan Anthony

 In Tests from 2001-2014 (the only period for which data is available) and with the caveat that some dropped catches are debatable, and others might not have been recorded, the following have scored centuries after being dropped before they had scored a run: AB de Villiers, AJ Stewart, AN Cook, DR Martyn, DS Lehmann, Habibul Bashar, Inzamam-ul-Haq, KC Sangakkara, KP Pietersen, MEK Hussey, ML Hayden, SR Tendulkar.

Hayden and Inzamam appear twice. The highest score made by someone dropped on 0 is 270 by Sangakkara at Bulawayo 2004, when he hit Mluleki Nkala to mid-off where Tinashe Panyangara initially held the ball before losing his grip when his elbow hit the ground. Tendulkar was dropped on 0 when he made his highest Test score (248*). Hussey (195) was dropped first ball (debatable). de Villiers (164) was also dropped first ball. - Charles Davis

Who has scored most centuries in the World Cup? - Suhail Ahmed Emran

 Sachin Tendulkar has the most, with six - ahead of Ricky Ponting (five), Sourav Ganguly and Mark Waugh (four each). - Martin Briggs

Most ODIs before first World Cup match

144 H Masakadza (Zimbabwe)
134 Shoaib Malik (Pakistan)
127 RG Sharma (India)
112 Waqar Younis (Pakistan)
111 RA Jadeja and SK Raina (India)
109 RP Arnold and TM Dilshan (Sri Lanka)
105 G Gambhir (India)
101 MJ Clarke (Australia)

Odds and ends:
1. Most ODIs by a player whose debut and the last match was in a WC is 245 by JN Rhodes (South Africa). Rhodes also is the player with most matches in career who made his ODI debut in a WC.
2. Most ODIs by a player whose last match was in a WC is 378 by Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pakistan).
3. Most ODIs by a player who has appeared in only one WC match is 83 by PS de Villiers (South Africa).

Aslam Siddiqui