Sri Lanka are finally on the board in World Cup 2023. After losing their first three matches, they have beaten the Netherlands who went down fighting in the 19th match of the tournament. The islanders chased down the target 263 in the 49th over of the innings with Sadeera Samarawickrama shining with the bat.
Earlier, the Netherlands opted to bat after winning the toss but were left reeling before the halfway mark in their innings. Kasun Rajitha and Dilshan Madhushanka ran through their line-up to leave them struggling at 91/6. This is when the duo Sybrand Engelbrecht joined hands with Logan van beek to resurrect the innings. Both the batters played very smartly rotating the strike and made sure to get their eyes in.
They punished the hit-me delvieries stitching a 130-run partnership for the seventh wicket breaking the record of MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja who had added 116 runs in the semifinal of World Cup 2019 against New Zealand. Their partnership ensured that the Dutch crossed the 250-run mark with ease eventually ending up at 262 runs before getting bundled out.
The score was competitive given Sri Lanka's inconsistent batting line-up and within the powerplay, the Netherlands struck twice dismissing Kusal Mendis and Kusal Perera. However, Samarawickrama had other ideas as he first added 52 runs with Pathum Nissanka and then took Charith Asalanka by his side to take his team closer to the target.
The Netherlands bowlers tried their best throughout the innings but couldn't trigger a collapae. Their off-spinner Aryan Dutt bowled well to end with figures of 3/44 but none of the other bowlers were effective enough. Samarawickrama stood in the middle like a rock even as things got tricky at one stage. He made sure to hang around till the end as Sri Lanka reached home in the 49th over with five wickets in hand registering their first points in this World Cup.
