Men’s team misses unique opportunity to beat Sri Lanka
Published at 30 June, 2023All the hard work seemed to have been done: the Netherlands bowled out Sri Lanka. However the Dutch had trouble with the varied Sri Lankan attack: 192 all out.
Surprisingly enough Sri Lanka opted to bat after winning the toss. Until now there had only been some movement in the early hours.
People who questioned the choice were initially proven right. Pathum Nissanka hit the very first ball into the hands of Saqib Zulfiqar, who took an excellent catch in the covers.
In the same over the Netherlands lost a review; in the Super Six - unlike in the group stage - the Decision Review System is used. Moments later, an LBW shout from Ryan Klein - in the team for the injured Viv Kingma - was given: 22/2.
There are only two reviews per innings for ODIs. Klein had Dimuth Karunaratne LBW on 19, but it was not given and the reviews had already been used. It would have meant 35/5. Now it was 36/4 after the first Powerplay - still a very good result.
Yet, Karunaratne (33) was dismissed by a fantastic googly by Saqib Zulfiqar: 67/5. Sri Lanka was unable to accelerate and continued to lose wickets. Even with five wickets down, the recovery Sri Lanka was looking for did not happen: 96/6. Bas de Leede got one of the last 'recognised' batsmen – Hasaranga – out for 20 (131/7/33). Through disciplined bowling, the Netherlands had dug a pit for Sri Lanka that the Asians could not get out of.
Dhananjaya de Silva top scored with 93 before Dutt (1-34) dismissed him. Van Beek took 3-26, De Leede 3-42, Saqib 2-48, Klein 1-38. Sri Lanka 213 all out.
Netherlands innings
Between the innings, former Dutch international turned commentator Dirk Nannes said a good opening score would be important. It didn't happen: Vikram went on the second ball, O'Dowd on the first.
Barresi hit some nice straight drives and batted brilliantly. He and De Leede were given LBW, reviews saving both batsmen through inside edges. Barresi (52) was unnecessarily run out on a (too) tight single: 88/3/14.2. Running at this stage was euphemistically adventurous. Nidamanuru also escaped, but a ball later he did not read Hasaranga's googly: 91/4.
Edwards, given LBW, was the third Dutchman to successfully challenge this decision. Still in the same over, however, De Leede (41) was bowled through the gate by Theeksana: 127/5.
Three runs per over was still enough. Saqib Zulfiqar was not given out, but this time Sri Lanka's review was successful, as was the ball with which Theeksana beat Van Beek: 133/7/24.
Edwards and Dutt now had to make the remaining 38 runs for the final wicket. Despite Edwards' fourth consecutive half-century (67 not out), that attempt ended on 192.
Photo credits: ICC/Getty
