Four-fers from the duo of Dilshan Madushanka and Kasun Rajitha followed by gritty fifties from Pathum Nissanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama helped Sri Lanka beat Netherlands by a margin of five wickets in match number 19 of ICC ODI World Cup 2023, at Ekana Stadium. Sri Lanka registered their first win of the tournament.
Speaking about the game, Netherlands won the all-important toss and opted to bat first at Ekana Stadium in Lucknow. Kasun Rajitha drew the first blood for Sri Lanka as Vikramjit Singh was trapped for four runs. Rajitha and Dilshan Madushanka rattled the top order with a lethal bowling display, as Netherlands were left reeling at 91/6 in the 22nd over.
Sybrand Engelbrecht and Logan Van Beek led the recovery with a beautiful partnership of 130 runs for the seventh wicket. Both batters went on to register their respective half-centuries in the course of the partnership. Madushanka and Rajitha came with wickets in the death too as they bowled Netherlands out for 262. Both Madushanka and Rajitha registered their best bowling performance by picking four wickets each while Van der Beek and Sybrand amassed 59 and 70 runs, respectively.
Chasing 263, Sri Lanka lost both Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis earlier as Aryan Dutt took the first two wickets by setting them up, SL completed the Powerplay 56/2. Pathum Nissanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama added 52 runs for the third wicket before Nissanka knicked one to the keeper after registering his third consecutive half-century while Charith Asalanka and Samarawickrama added 77 runs before Dutt struck again by cleaning up Asalanka for 44.
However, Samarawickrama continued to pile up the runs as he added another 76 runs with Dhananjaya de Silva. Samarawickrama got off to his second fifty-plus score in the tournament and remained unbeaten on 91 to help Sri Lanka register their first win in ODI World Cup 2023.
Meanwhile, let us look at the stats and numbers from the game between Sri Lanka and Netherlands:
130 -130 run partnership between Sybrand Engelbrecht and Logan Van Beek was the second highest partnership for Netherlands for any wicket in ODI World Cups. 228 between Feiko Kloppenberg and KJJ Van Noorwijk against Namibia in 2003 was the highest.
130 -130 run partnership between Sybrand Engelbrecht and Logan Van Beek is the highest seventh-wicket partnership in ODI World Cups, bettering the previous best of 126* between Kapil Dev and Syed Kirmani.
1 -This was the first instance of two batters at position seven or below who have scored 50-plus scores for Netherlands in World Cups and the fourth instance overall in World Cups.
2 -Both Dilshan Madushanka and Kasun Rajitha registered their best bowling in today’s game and this was the second instance of two Sri Lankan bowlers taking four-fers in a World Cup innings.
6 -Sri Lanka have now won six out of six games against Netherlands in ODIs.
263/5 -Sri Lanka registered the highest successful chase in Ekana Stadium in ODIs, bettering the previous best of 253/5 by West Indies against Afghanistan in 2019.
262 -The total of 262 is the fourth-highest total for Netherlands in ODI World Cups.
262 – Netherlands registered their highest total of 262 against Sri Lanka bettering their previous best of 258 in 2006.
2 -Pathum Nissanka became the second opener for Sri Lanka to register three consecutive fifty-plus scores in the ODI World Cup.