Sri Lanka earned their first win of the T20 World Cup in their final match, beating Netherlands by 83 runs
Sri Lanka signed off a disappointing campaign with their first win of the T20 World Cup as they beat the Netherlands by 83 runs in St Lucia.
Charith Asalanka smashed five sixes as Sri Lanka, who had lost their opening two games, equalled the highest score of the tournament with 6-201 – a total which proved well beyond the Dutch.
Needing a big win and a heavy defeat for Bangladesh against Nepal to book a place in the Super Eight, the Netherlands made the perfect start when Vivian Kingma dismissed Pathum Nissanka second ball.
But he was the only top order batter to fail with opener Kusal Mendis leading the way with 46 from 29 balls.
Asalanka reached the same score from 21 balls, Dhananjaya de Silva adding 34 before two quick wickets gave the Dutch hope of restricting the total.
But Angelo Matthews hit 30no from 15 balls and captain Wanindu Hasaranga plundered an unbeaten 20 from just six deliveries to equal Australia’s score against England.
Netherlands reply started well with opener Michael Levitt making 31 from 23 deliveries, but once partner Max O’Dowd departed with the score on 45, wickets fell steadily.
Captain Scott Edwards provided resistance with 31, but they were bundled out for 118 in the 17th over, Nuwan Thushara taking 3-24.
“We’ll sit down and reflect after the tournament, when we get back to the Netherlands and see which areas we’ve got to be better at to progress in these sort of tournaments,” Edwards said.
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