Dhananjaya de Silva and Maheesh Theekshana guided Sri Lanka to an opening victory in the Super Six stage of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023. In their first match in the Super Six round, Sri Lanka carried the form they showed in Group Stage to beat the Netherlands by 21 runs today (30th June) at Queen’s Sports Club in Bulawayo.
Sri Lankan skipper Dasun Shanaka won the toss and decided to bat first on a used surface at Queen’s Sports Club. Sri Lanka made one change to their playing XI, bringing in young speedster Dilshan Madushanka to replace Kasun Rajitha.
On the other hand, the Netherlands had made two changes as they brought in Ryan Klien and Shariz Ahmed to replace Vivian Kingma and Clayton Floyd.
Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Pathum Nissanka, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis(w), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka(c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Lahiru Kumara, Dilshan Madushanka
Netherlands (Playing XI): Vikramjit Singh, Max ODowd, Wesley Barresi, Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Scott Edwards(w/c), Saqib Zulfiqar, Logan van Beek, Shariz Ahmad, Ryan Klein, Aryan Dutt
Sri Lanka got off to a shocking start as Nissanka threw his wicket away in the very first ball of the innings for a golden duck.
Mendis, Samarawickrama and Asalanka also couldn’t impress with the bat as they were dismissed in quick succession, putting Sri Lanka onto backfoot.
Karunaratne made a fighting 33, but it was De Silva’s brilliant half-century that kept Sri Lanka in with a chance. De Silva put forth a valiant solo effort to drag Sri Lanka to a score beyond 200. He made 93 runs off 11l balls with 8 fours and 2 sixes and was unlucky to miss out on a maiden ODI century.
Read : Sri Lanka make it four in a row with big win over Scotland
Van Beek and Klein starred with the ball for the Netherlands, picking up three wickets apiece.
In their turn with the ball, Sri Lanka started brilliantly as the new-ball opening pair Kumara and Madushanka removed the Dutch opening batters for no score in the first 2 overs of the innings.
However, Barresi and de Leede rescued the Netherlands innings, putting on a 77-run stand for the 3rd wicket, before the former ran himself out after scoring a well-compiled half-century.
Hasaranga then cleaned up the in-form batter Nidamanurua for a duck in the next over, creating a chaotic period in the middle for the Netherlands.
Things got worse for the Netherlands as Theekshana tilted the game in favor of Sri Lanka by removing three wickets in a span of seven deliveries.
Netherlands skipper Edwards played a lone fight as he kept sweeping and reverse-sweeping against Sri Lankan spinners to notch up his fourth consecutive half-century. Edwards remained unbeaten till the end with a score of 67 but didn’t get enough support to put his side over the line.
Theekshana was brilliant with the ball for the Islanders as he claimed 3 wickets for 31 runs in his 9-over spell.
After winning four from four in the Group Stage, Sri Lanka are now up to six points in the Super Six thanks to their four points carried over and a further two picked up today against the Netherlands.
Super Six Points Table (As of 30th June)
| Team | Matches | Won | Lost | Points | NRR |
| Sri Lanka | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | +1.832 |
| Zimbabwe | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | +0.752 |
| Scotland | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -0.060 |
| Netherlands | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | -0.560 |
| West Indies | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | -0.35 |
| Oman | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | -2.139 |
Sri Lanka will take on the hosts Zimbabwe in their second game of the Super Six stage on Sunday (2nd July) at the same Ground.
Brief Scores
Sri Lanka – 213 (47.4) Dhananjaya de Silva 93, Dimuth Karunaratne 33, Maheesh Theekshana 28, Wanindu Hasaranga 20, van Beek 3/26, Bas de Leede 3/42
Netherlands – 192 (40) Scott Edwards 67*, Wesley Barresi 52, Bas de Leede 41, Maheesh Theekshana 3/31, Wanindu Hasaranga 2/53
Result – Sri Lanka won by 21 runs
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pathum Nissanka | c Saqib Zulfiqar b Logan van Beek | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Dimuth Karunaratne | c Scott Edwards b Saqib Zulfiqar | 33 | 51 | 2 | 0 | 64.71 |
| Kusal Mendis | lbw b Ryan Klein | 10 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 71.43 |
| Sadeera Samarawickrama | c Scott Edwards b Logan van Beek | 1 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 7.69 |
| Charith Asalanka | c Teja Nidamanuru b Logan van Beek | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 25.00 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | c Bas de Leede b Aryan Dutt | 93 | 111 | 8 | 2 | 83.78 |
| Dasun Shanaka | lbw b Saqib Zulfiqar | 5 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 25.00 |
| Wanindu Hasaranga | lbw b Bas de Leede | 20 | 21 | 1 | 1 | 95.24 |
| Mahesh Theekshana | c Wesley Barresi b Bas de Leede | 28 | 47 | 1 | 0 | 59.57 |
| Lahiru Kumara | lbw b Bas de Leede | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 40.00 |
| Dilshan Madushanka | not out | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 |
| Extras | 18 (b 4 , lb 3 , nb 0, w 11, pen 0) |
| Total | 213/10 (47.4 Overs, RR: 4.47) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Logan van Beek | 9 | 2 | 26 | 3 | 2.89 | |
| Ryan Klein | 9 | 0 | 38 | 1 | 4.22 | |
| Bas de Leede | 9.4 | 0 | 42 | 3 | 4.47 | |
| Aryan Dutt | 8 | 0 | 34 | 1 | 4.25 | |
| Saqib Zulfiqar | 10 | 0 | 48 | 2 | 4.80 | |
| Shariz Ahmad | 2 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 9.00 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vikramjit Singh | c Wanindu Hasaranga b Lahiru Kumara | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Max O’Dowd | lbw b Dilshan Madushanka | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Wesley Barresi | run out (Kusal Mendis) | 52 | 50 | 6 | 1 | 104.00 |
| Bas de Leede | b Mahesh Theekshana | 41 | 53 | 3 | 0 | 77.36 |
| Teja Nidamanuru | b Wanindu Hasaranga | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Scott Edwards | not out | 67 | 68 | 4 | 2 | 98.53 |
| Saqib Zulfiqar | lbw b Mahesh Theekshana | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 40.00 |
| Logan van Beek | b Mahesh Theekshana | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Shariz Ahmad | run out (Kusal Mendis) | 2 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 11.11 |
| Ryan Klein | b Wanindu Hasaranga | 5 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 35.71 |
| Aryan Dutt | b Dasun Shanaka | 7 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 28.00 |
| Extras | 16 (b 2 , lb 8 , nb 2, w 4, pen 0) |
| Total | 192/10 (40 Overs, RR: 4.8) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lahiru Kumara | 2 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 8.50 | |
| Dilshan Madushanka | 8 | 0 | 38 | 1 | 4.75 | |
| Mahesh Theekshana | 9 | 2 | 31 | 3 | 3.44 | |
| Dasun Shanaka | 4 | 0 | 18 | 1 | 4.50 | |
| Wanindu Hasaranga | 10 | 0 | 53 | 2 | 5.30 | |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | 7 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 3.57 | |
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