A win at last!!!
Sadeera Samarawickrema remained unbeaten on 91 to become the player of the match - AFP
Three straight defeats have put their World Cup campaign on the line but Sri Lanka just managed to scrape through against a team lacking in international experience, beating the Dutch by 5 wickets to get their first two points on the table at the Ekena Stadium in Lucknow yesterday.
The pressure was on the Sri Lankans after conceding 262 runs, then losing Kusal Janith Perera (5) and Kusal Mendis (11) cheaply. Despite Pathum Nissanka and Charith Asalanka gifting their wickets after getting the starts, Sri Lanka shed a sigh of relief when a 76-run stand between Sadeera Samarawickrema and Dhananjaya de Silva held off the Dutch to clinch their first victory in the tournament.
Samarawickrema played intelligently, valuing his wicket and stitching three important partnerships in his match-winning knock to chase down what looked like a formidable total with 10 balls to spare. He shared 52 runs with Nissanka for the third wicket, 77 runs for the fourth wicket with Asalanka and 76 for the fifth wicket with de Silva to complete the run chase.
But this was by no mean a complete performance by the Sri Lankans who were made to toil for the win by a group of semi-professional cricketers.
Nissanka hit his third consecutive 50, an exquisite knock full of class, then threw his wicket away soon after reaching the half century. He made his 50 off 48 balls by clipping Bas de Leede behind the wicket for four runs and smashed another through deep third man, before he returned to the dressing room by throwing his bat to a widish de Leede delivery.
Samarawickrema and Asalanka then paired up on a mission. After putting in the hard yards, Asalanka gifted his wicket on a platter to Aaryan Dutt (3/44) by attempting to slog sweep, with Sri Lanka still needing 82 runs off 17.2 overs. He missed it completely and the ball dislodged the off stumps as the former youth skipper took the long walk back to the dressing room. Samarawickrema, however, continued patiently accumulating runs as his unbeaten knock was the cornerstone of Sri Lanka’s victory. The 28-year-old, who hit his maiden century against Hyderabad, was stranded at 91 runs, hitting seven boundaries and facing 107 balls. De Silva (30) was castled by Colin Ackermann with Sri Lanka needing only six runs to win.
Earlier, after being reduced to 91 for 6 in the 22nd over by a promising bowling effort by the Lankans seam duo, Kasun Rajitha and Dilshan Madushanka, Sri Lanka let slip the advantage as the men in orange scored 171 runs between the sixth and the last wicket to put Sri Lanka under pressure.
Kasun Rajitha and Dilshan Madushanka claimed four scalps each
A record 130-run partnership between Sybrand Engelbrecht and Logan van Beek for the seventh wicket changed the complexion of the game and helped the Dutch, who were batting first after winning the toss, to be in the box-seat.
Engelbrecht, a former South African domestic cricketer donning the Dutch jersey, and van Beek, a Dutch-New Zealand cricketer, made most of Sri Lanka’s feeble bowling and gave their team a sizable total of 262.
Kusal Mendis maneuvered his bowling resources effectively, breaking the backbone of the Dutch innings. But he ran out of ideas and options as Englebrecht and van Beek constructed their innings with the record World Cup stand. The highest partnership for the seventh wicket stands at 116 between MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja, scored against New Zealand in the 2019 edition.
Having made his international debut at the World Cup, the 35-year-old hit his maiden half century–70 off 82 balls–before Madushanka yorked him, as the batter looked to scoop it behind the wicket. Van Beek also reached his maiden half-century, 59 off 75 balls, before Asalanka took a brilliant diving catch at deep mid-wicket off Rajitha to end his vital knock.
Although the momentum was in Netherlands’ favour after their 38-run win over South Africa, Sri Lankan bowlers led by Rajitha and Madushanka blew off the Netherlands top-order before their lower middle order and tail flourished.
Rajitha did the bulk of the damage upfront by removing Netherlands’ top three batters–Vickramjit Singh (4), Max O’Dowd (16) and Colin Ackermann (29)–before the rising star Dilshan Madushanka added two to his tally to leave the Netherlands run accumulation in a tight spot. At the end of the 20th over, the men in orange were 81 for 5 and Maheesh Theekshana bowled Scott Edwards, the Dutch skipper, with a tossed-up delivery that took the inside edge to the stumps to leave them looking down the barrel at 91 for 6.
When Madushanka and Rajitha returned, much damage had been done. But the duo bowled well to finish with four wickets apiece. It was their best bowling figures in ODI cricket. Madushanka, the youngster, having a great run-of-form finished with 4 for 49 while Rajitha returned figures of 4 for 50. Madushanka, with 11 wickets off four games, is among the top two wicket-takers in the tournament. Sri Lanka’s lack of discipline in bowling was on show yet again as they conceded 33 extras, including 26 wides in the match. Sri Lanka made two changes to the playing XI by replacing Lahiru Kumara and Dunith Wellalage with Kasun Rajitha and Dushan Hemantha.
| SCORECARD | |
| NetherlandsVikramjit Singh lbw b Rajitha 04(Good length, pitching on middle, batsman misses, given out, reviews, but upheld) Max O’Dowd b Rajitha 16(Full, outside off, attempts to drive, thick inside edge to stumps)Colin Ackermann c Mendis b Rajitha 29 (Short of a length, outside off, ball moves away finding an outside edge to the wicketkeeper) Bas de Leede c Perera b Madushanka 06 (Short, outside off, angling into the batsman, plays late, Teja Nidamanuru lbw b Madushanka 09 (Inswinger, landing on fuller length on middle and off, Scott Edwards b Theekshana 16 (Off-break, outside off, turns back sharp, Sybrand Engelbrecht b Madushanka 70 (Yorker length on middle, plays across early, tries to scoop, Logan van Beek c Asalanka b Rajitha 59 (Slower, fullish delivery, outside off, hit hard, Roelof van der Merwe c Menids b Madushanka 07 (Short delivery, tries to get out of the way, Aryan Dutt not out 09 Paul van Meekeren run out 04 (Tries to scoop, but plays a reverse sweep, Extras (lb1, nb1, w26, pen5) 33 Total (all out; 49.4 overs) 262 Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Singh, 3.4ov), 2-48 (O’Dowd, 9.6ov), 3-54 (Ackermann, 11.6ov), 4-68 (de Leede, 16.5ov), 5-71 (Nidamanuru, 18.4ov), 6-91 (Edwards, 21.2ov). 7-221 (Engelbrecht, 45.1ov), 8-244 (van der Merwe, 47.2ov), 9-252 (van Beek, 48.4ov), 10-262 (van Meekeren, 49.4ov) Bowling: Dilshan Madushanka 9.4-1-49-4, Kasun Rajitha 9-0-50-4, Chamika Karunaratne 9-1-58-0, Maheesh Theekshana 10-0-44-1, Dushan Hemantha 8-0-42-0, Dhananjaya de Silva 4-0-13-0 Sri Lanka Pathum Nissanka c Edwards b van Keekeren 54 (Short of a length outside off, coming inwards, Kusal Perera c de Leede b Dutt 05 (Short and wide, cuts, ends up slicing straight to short third) Kusal Mendis c van Meekeren b Dutt 11 (Attempt to slog sweep, finds top edge, caught at short fine leg) Sadeera Samarawickrema not out 91 Charith Asalanka b Dutt 44 (Pitches on the off, tries to sweep, misses and hits middle stump) Dhananjaya de Silva b Ackermann 30 (Steps out to hammer a length delivery, swings and misses) Dushan Hemantha not out 04 Extras (b13, w11) 24 Total (5 wickets; 48.2 overs) 263 Did not bat: Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha, Dilshan Madushanka Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Perera, 4.3ov), 2-52 (Mendis, 9.3ov), 3-104 (Nissanka, 16.1ov), 4-181, Asalanka, 32.4ov), 5-257 (de Silva, 46.5ov) Bowling: Aryan Dutt 10-0-44-3, Logan van Beek 10-0-57-0, Paul van Meekeren 8-1-39-1, Bas de Leede 3-0-29-0, Roelof van der Merwe 9-0-42-0, Colin Ackermann 8.2-0-39-1 |