Mendis, bowlers carry Sri Lanka to Super 12s
Two days after to going top of the group A table, Netherlands are currently helpless before UAE for their qualification chances as Sri Lanka thumped them by 16 runs on Thursday to come to the Super 12s. Kusal Mendis' 44-ball 79 made ready for a triumphant complete as the bowlers did well together to stifle Netherlands' chase.
With this loss, Netherlands have slipped to second with a NRR of - 0.162. To qualify for the Super 12s alongside Sri Lanka, they need UAE to beat Namibia in the afternoon fixture.
Tight beginning with the ball from Netherlands
Scott Edwards' side has been tight in the beginning phases of the game this World Cup - conceding at only 5.33 in the PowerPlay. They accomplished business as usual on a day when their rival - Sri Lanka - decided to bat first. With grip and turn on a genuine surface in Geelong, Edwards tossed the two his left-arm spinners - Tom Pringle and Roelof van der Merwe - at Sri Lanka's right-handed opening pair and secured them. It took a 14-run over in the 6th, which had the first six of the innings, to push Sri Lanka to 36/0 in 6 overs.
Paul van Meekeren spits fire
The tall and tying pacer bowled in overabundance of 140ks, peppered Nissanka with two or three short balls into his body to make the batter hop. Van Meekeren followed that up with a pin-point yorker at 146kmph at the foundation of the off-stump that Nissanka couldn't get under. On the next ball, one-drop batter Dhananjaya de Silva got a full and inswinging ball that struck him on the front pad. Marais Erasmus answered in the certifiable to Netherlands' appeal for LBW and Dhananjaya selected against reviewing it. Much to his chagrin, replays showed that the ball would've missed the leg stump.
Mendis, Asalanka plot recuperation
The third-wicket pair took Sri Lanka from a disappointing 60/2 out of 10 overs to 96/2 out of 14, as Netherlands took their foot off the pedal a little through the middle overs. Asalanka played a greater part in swelling Sri Lanka's scoring rate, hitting 21 off the 16 balls he looked in these four overs. Mendis got 15 off the excess 8 to push SL ahead.
Bas de Leede - the partnership breaker
The medium-pacer with his remarkable difference in pace, broke risky stands two times in what remained in the Sri Lankan innings. To start with, he got Asalanka to swing hard and nick one to the keeper for a 30-ball 31 and afterward disposed of Bhanuka Asalanka, who hit a low full throw to the long-on fielder to fall for 19 off 13.
Mendis blazes away at the death
In a ground where hitting boundaries square of the wicket has been easier, Fred Klaasen missed the memo. He dished out two short balls to Mendis and duly got dispatched over the square leg fence for two sixes in the 19th over. It gave Sri Lanka the much-needed push in the end as they smashed 24 off the last two overs. Mendis nearly carried his bat, falling for 79 off just 44 deliveries that helped the side recover in the second half. Fifty of those runs came in fours and sixes.
Netherlands battle for batting familiarity
Netherlands would've gone into the innings break lamenting the way that they conceded 15-20 runs more than they ought to have been after the beginning they got. TTo make matters worse, Sri Lanka were on the cash with the ball straightaway, denying simple runs in the PowerPlay. Maheesh Theekshana and Lahiru Kumara - Dushmantha Chameera's replacement - struck right on time to leave Netherlands with a PP score identical from their rivals' - 40 for 2.
Wanindu Hasaranga's wizardry started just after this period as he struck in his first over, however Netherlands got to the halfway stage too with a comparative score to Sri Lanka's - 63/3 - and expected to up the scoring heavily in the last part.
For what reason would they be able to pull that off?
On account of normal wickets that continued to fix them back in spite of opener Max O'Dowd battling on from the opposite end. Netherlands went from 72 for 3 in the twelfth over to 105 for 6 in the sixteenth. Hasaranga then put the game further away from Netherland's grip with a twofold wicket over where he foxed Tim van der Gugten with a googly and Fred Klaassen was scattered by a ball that kept low.
They were down to 109 for 8 in the seventeenth over. How could they lose by just 16?
Because of O'Dowd's resilience. With the asking rate above and beyond 10, he cultivated the strike, hoped to play big shots and narrow the equation as far as possible,, and got a fine half-century along the way. The game appeared to have been won for Sri Lanka when Paul van Meekeren was run out, however a injured Roelof van der Merwe left to bat at #11.
Netherlands required 39 off the last 12, when O'Dowd crushed a no-ball from Theekshana for a six. The spinner blundered in line by following it up with two wides. O'Dowd then got another six. Upwards of 16 runs fell off that over, passing on O'Dowd to bring 23 in the last. The Netherlands opener pushed it this far yet couldn't go further as Kumara bowled sharp short balls to both the hitters and held them down to only six runs in the last over. O'Dowd completed unbeaten - yet dejected - on 71 off 53 with 6 fours and 3 sixes.
Match Summary
Sri Lanka 162/6 out of 20 overs (Kusal Mendis 79, Charith Asalanka 31; Paul van Meekeren 2-25) beat Netherlands 146/9 out of 20 overs (Max O'Dowd 71*; Wanindu Hasaranga 3-28) by 16 runs
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