SL Open Account, Win by 5 Wickets Against Netherlands

Lucknow: Sri Lanka shone withthe ball in their bowling inningsand showed discipline with the batto take their ICC Men’s CricketWorld Cup encounter againstNetherlands by five wickets hereat Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadiumhere on Saturday.Sri Lanka began the chasepositively but were rocked by twoquick blows from Aryan Dutt inthe first Powerplay. However,they made strong progressthereafter on the back of positiveknocks from Sadeera Samarawickrama (91*), PathumNissanka (54) and CharithAsalanka (44). Earlier, feistyfifties from Sybrand Engelbrechtand Logan van Beek helpedNetherlands to a competitive totalagainst Sri Lanka in Lucknow.Kasun Rajitha (4/50) and DilshanMadushanka (4/49) starred with theball for Sri Lanka. SadeeraSamarawickrama and CharithAsalanka ensured that Sri Lankamarched ahead towards their targetwithout too many hiccups after the25-over mark. Despite losingAsalanka for 44 in the 34th over,Sri Lanka were well-placed to winthe game. A solid 76-run standbetween Samarawickrama andDhananjaya de Silva helped themclose in on the target. They wonthe game in the 49th over. AryanDutt’s accurate bowling troubled SriLanka during their chase of 263.Kusal Perera fell early when he
failed to gain the elevation whilegoing for a cut, and played onestraight to the short third man.While Pathum Nissanka hit a brisk,boundary-clad knock to keep SriLanka in the chase, Dutt struckyet again in the final over of the
Powerplay. This time he got KusalMendis, who fell to a mistimedsweep which went up in the air andwas grasped by Paul van Meekerenat short fine leg. Nissankacontinued in aggressive fashionand hit a brisk fifty in the 15th
over. In that over, Sri Lanka took16 runs off Bas de Leede. However,van Meekeren struck back for theDutch in the 17th over andremoved Nissanka for 54.Asalanka arrived at No.5 to holdthe innings together with a patient
knock, even as Samarawickramawent for his shots. In the morning,after early damage from KasunRajitha and Dilshan Madushankahad Netherlands reeling at 91/6,Sybrand Engelbrecht and Loganvan Beek put together a crucial
partnership for the Dutch. Theyadded 130 runs for the seventhwicket, which was a CricketWorld Cup record for that
wicket. Both batemen got to theircareer-best scores: Engelbrechtgetting to 70, while van Beekfinished on 59. DilshanMadushanka (4/49) struck backfor Sri Lanka in a brilliant finalspell. He accounted forEngelbrecht and Roelof van derMerwe.Rajitha did the early damagewith three wickets while pacepartner Dilshan Madushanka laterensured Sri Lanka remained on topwith two scalps of his own. TheSri Lanka spinners then came on
to control the middle overs asMaheesh Theekshana claimed thekey wicket of Netherlands skipperScott Edwards (16) who had wonthe toss and elected to bat first.The Dutch had to battle through adifficult early period as Sri Lanka
quicks Rajitha and Madushankamoved the ball through the air.After several close calls Sri Lankaeventually struck when Rajithatrapped Netherlands openerVikramjit Singh (4) in front of hisstumps, then backed it up when
knocking down Max O’Dowd’s (16)castle at the end of the Powerplay.Netherlands were in deeper troublewhen Colin Ackermann (29) nickeda wide ball to Kusal Mendis behindthe stumps off the bowling ofRajitha with the total on 54.Rajitha finished his opening spellof seven overs – the longest sofar at this Cricket World Cup -with 3/27 to put Sri Lanka incommand. Madushanka returnedto dismiss Bas de Leede (6) whenKusal Perera took a sharp catchin the deep, and soon had TejaNidamanuru (9) stranded in frontof his stumps.

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