Mr McVey’s Mysterious Maths – Cricket World Cup Edition

If like me, you’ve been following the Cricket World Cup in India over the past few weeks, you’ll no doubt have enjoyed the big hitting of the batters, the skill of the bowlers and the athleticism of the fielders. Despite England’s disappointing performance, the tournament came to a climax last weekend in Ahmedabad where 100 000 spectators saw Australia beat the home team India to lift their sixth World Cup.

Not only is cricket a thrilling sport, it also involves lots of exciting maths! My challenge to you is to work out the answers to the following cricket related questions. Answers can be emailed or brought to me in person and there will be prizes for full and correct solutions. Good luck!

1)    In cricket, an over is where 6 balls are bowled by the bowler. In the World Cup final, India batted for exactly 50 overs. How many balls are there in 50 overs?

2)    Australia only needed 43 overs to reach the winning target. How many balls did they face?

*For the next 2 questions, the average used is the mean.

3)    Mohammed Shami of India was the leading wicket taker in the tournament. He took 24 wickets for 264 runs, an average of 11 runs for each wicket taken. The second highest wicket taker was Adam Zampa of Australia who conceded 506 runs at an average of 22 runs for each wicket taken. How many wickets did he take?

4)    India captain, Virat Kohli, is a hero in his home country and one of the greatest batters ever to have played the game. In the 2023 world cup (up until the final) he averaged 71.1 runs in 10 innings. After the final (his 11th innings) his average was . How many runs did he score in the final?

*Disclaimer: Some of the batting and bowling figures have been changed slightly to allow integer answers!

Mr McVey

Mathematics Department

Share!