It is a double-header day in the World Cup 2023 today with Netherlands facing Sri Lanka while England are taking on South Africa in crucial matches. The Netherlands vs Sri Lanka game was a day-affair and played at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. The Dutch yet again put up a spirited effort with the bat posting 262 runs on the board before getting bowled out.
They recovered from a sorry position of 91/6 thanks to half-centuries from Sybrand Engelbrecht and Logan van Beek. The duo added 130 runs for the seventh wicket in less than 24 overs. During the game-changing partnership, the Netherlands aso got the benefit of ball hitting the helmet that is kept behind the wicketkeeper. The incident happened in the 43rd over of the innings when the batter missed a delivery from Chamika Karunaratne.
Wicket-keeper Kusal Mendis also couldn't gather the ball and it got deflected eventually to hit the stumps. According to the rules, if the ball hits any equipment that is kept on the field, then the bowling side is penalised for five runs.
Watch the video here:
Netherlands lower-order shines yet again
Meanwhile, the Dutch once again fought well with the ball to make a strong comeback. They were left reeling at 91/6 with Sri Lanka's pacers Dilshan Madhushanka and Kasun Rajitha bowling well up front. This is when Sybrand and Van Beek joined hands and batted cleverly to rebuild the innings. The duo took calculated risks and accelerated at the right time to propel the team's score past 250.
Playing XIs
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis (c & wk), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dushan Hemantha, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha, Dilshan Madushanka
Netherlands: Vikramjit Singh, Max ODowd, Colin Ackermann, Bas de Leede, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Teja Nidamanuru, Scott Edwards (c & wk), Logan van Beek, Roelof van der Merwe, Aryan Dutt, Paul van Meekeren
