What a dramatic match Sri Lanka have won against the Netherlands! In the Super Six of the ICC World Cup Qualifiers, Sri Lanka faced the Netherlands today at Queens Sports Club. However, the three times world cup winner had a thrilling fight to win the crucial game against the Dutches. Scoring only 213 runs, the Lankan bowlers successfully defended their score to seal the game.
Match Report
Dasun Shanaka, the captain of Sri Lanka, won the toss and opted to bat first at Queens Sports Club. So Pathum Nissanka and Dimuth Karunaratne stepped into the crease to start the innings for the Lankans. But the Lankans had a big shock to start their batting innings. In the very first ball, opener Pathum Nissanka had gone duck as Logan Van Beek picked his wicket.
After that, Dimuth Karunaratne tried hard to build a partnership with Kusal Mendis. Unfortunately, their partnership couldn’t last long. Kusal Mendis departed the crease after scoring only 10 runs. Besides, the Dutch bowlers were brilliant today against the Lankans. They maintained a very tight line and length, not giving too many runs. Due to their controlled bowling, Sri Lanka lost three batters between 20 to 35 runs.
When all the batters failed to contribute, Dhananjaya de Silva was the one to handle the disaster. He carried the team alone. After smashing a much-needed half-century, Silva was heading toward the century. Unfortunately, de Silva missed the landmark only for seven runs as he lost his wicket after scoring 93 runs. However, the remaining players couldn’t score notable runs for the Lankans. Relying on Dhananjaya de Silva’s bat, Sri Lanka ended their innings with 213 runs. Anyway, Logan van Beek and Bas de Leede were ruthless against Sri Lanka. They picked up three wickets for each to destroy the Lankan batting lineup.
Chasing the small target, the Netherlands had a nightmare indeed. Both openers had gone duck in chasing the low score. As a result, Sri Lanka took control of the match.
But Wesley Berresi and Bas de Leede played fantastic innings for the Dutches to tackle the initial disaster. They made a brilliant partnership of 77 runs, which got the Dutches closer to the target. Wesley scored 52 before being run out, while Bas de Leede added 41 runs.
After the departure of these two batters, the Netherlands was once again under pressure. However, skipper Scott Edwards remained calm between the wickets and kept adding runs. He smashed a half-century in this match. Moreover, the skipper remained not out in 67 runs. But the other batters were very poor against the Lankan bowlers. The last five batters added only 16 runs in combined. Consequently, Sri Lanka won the game by 21 runs as the Netherlands were all-out for 192 runs.
