Samarawickrama leads Sri Lanka to maiden World Cup win over Netherlands
Unflappable half-century guides Lankans to five-wicket victory
In his undefeated half-century, Sadeera Samarawickrama demonstrated unflappable composure as he led Sri Lanka to their maiden World Cup victory over the Netherlands by a decisive margin of five wickets on Saturday.
Sybrand Engelbrecht (70), a South African native, and Logan van Beek (59), a batsman, spearheaded a spectacular comeback by scoring their first half-centuries to enable the Netherlands record a valiant 262 after electing to bat.
In response, Dutch off-spinner Aryan Dutt (3/44) caught Kusal Perera (5) and skipper Kusal Mendis (8) during the Powerplay, but Sri Lanka never lost track of the goal on a dry, spinning field with Samarawickrama serving as their anchor.
Giving the middle order stability, Samarawickrama, who earlier scored his first ODI century against Pakistan, reached a well-earned half-century — his sixth in ODIs — off 53 balls on the way to an unbeaten knock of 91 that allowed Sri Lanka to complete their pursuit with 10 balls remaining.
This was Sri Lanka's first victory this World Cup after suffering three straight losses, moving them up to eighth place on the points chart.
In order to set things up, Pathum Nissanka (54) scored his third consecutive half-century. Samarawickrama and Charith Asalanka then handled the chase with a 77-run fourth-wicket stand.
The skipper of Lanka, Kusal Mendis, was happy with his group. In the first ten overs, the bowlers performed admirably. In the final minutes of the game, the pitch began to turn a little. Charith, Pathum, and Sadeera all played excellent batting. The batting has a lot of advantages, he stated at the post-game awards ceremony.
England will play Sri Lanka on October 26.
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