Sri Lanka end campaign on a high with Netherlands thumping

Sri Lanka became only the second team at this World Cup to make over 200 before restricting the Netherlands to just 118 to secure their first win of the campaign by 83 runs in St Lucia

Oscar Ress | 17/06/2024 at 04:37

St Lucia: Sri Lanka 201-6, Netherlands 118 - Sri Lanka won by 83 runs

In their final 2024 T20 World Cup game, Sri Lanka secured their first win as they smashed the Netherlands by 83 runs in St Lucia.

Sri Lanka managed by far their best batting effort of the tournament as they scored 201 for 6 off their 20 overs, in reply, the Netherlands struggled to deal with the pressure of the chase and only managed 118.

Kusal Mendis (29 balls) and Charith Asalanka (21 balls) both struck 46 before cameos from Angelo Mathews (30 off 15 balls) and skipper Wanindu Hasaranga (20 off 6) helped Sri Lanka make use of favourable batting conditions in St Lucia.

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Charith Asalanka was the joint top-scorer of the Sri Lanka innings with 46 off 21 balls (Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

They lost their first wicket on the second ball of the innings when Vivian Kingma (1 for 23) had Pathum Nissanka caught by third man for a duck and then Kamindu Mendis (17) fell to Paul van Meekeren (1 for 37) before in the final over of the powerplay. Sri Lanka accelerated significantly after taking 16 off the 13th over to become the first team to reach 200 at the Daren Sammy Stadium in T20Is.

Netherlands got off to a strong start, making 45 in just 4.2 overs before Nuwan Thushara's off-cutter caused Max O'Dowd (11) to be caught at square-leg. Just two runs later the impressive Michael Levitt was stumped on 31 off 23 balls in a Maheesh Theekshana over that went for just one run.

Just as Bangladesh won against Nepal to confirm the Netherlands could not qualify, they began to lose wickets quickly. The wickets were shared between the bowlers as Vikramjit Singh (7) fell to Dasun Shanaka, Matheesha Pathirana (2 for 12) outfoxed Engelbrecht (11), Bas de Leede (3) hit Hasaranga to long on and Logan van Beek (0) was run out.

Tim Pringle (2) was the next to fall after he was stumped to hand Hasaranga his second of the day and end a 13-ball partnership with captain Scott Edwards. Aryan Dutt (10), Edwards (31), and van Meekeran (3) were dismissed as the Netherlands ended 83 runs short.

Sri Lanka finally produced the level of performance expected of their talented squad at this World Cup while the Netherlands suffered a disappointing end to a campaign that saw them win just one game.

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