Lankans squeeze past Oranje

LUCKNOW, October 21

Sri Lanka beat Netherlands by five wickets with 10 balls to spare today to become the final team to claim a hard-fought victory at the World Cup after Sadeera Samarawickrama anchored the chase.

Chasing 263 for victory, Samarawickrama stood firm once again with a patient 91 off 107 balls to add to his century against Pakistan as the island nation wrapped up the contest in the 49th over.

The result moved Sri Lanka off the bottom of the standings and up to ninth, above Afghanistan thanks to a marginally better net run-rate. “I’m really happy to finish the game for my team, we needed a win, we haven’t done well in the last three games,” said Samarawickrama, who was named the Player of the Match. “When I went in the wicket wasn’t easy… the fast bowlers bowled a good line and length. My plan was to bat deep and stick to the basics. I knew it would be hard later.” — Reuters

Scoreboard

Netherlands

V Singh lbw b Rajitha 4

M O’Dowd b Rajitha 16

C Ackermann c Mendis b Rajitha 29

B de Leede c Perera b Dilshan 6

T Nidamanuru lbw b Dilshan 9

S Edwards b Theekshana 16

S Engelbrecht b Dilshan 70

L van Beek c Asalanka b Rajitha 59

R van der Merwe c Mendis b Dilshan 7

A Dutt not out 9

P van Meekeren run out (Dilshan) 4

Extras: (lb 1, nb 1, w 26, pen 5) 33

Total: (all out, 49.4 overs) 262

FOW: 1-7, 2-48, 3-54, 4-68, 5-71,

6-91, 7-221, 8-244, 9-252

Bowling O M R W

Dilshan Madushanka 9.4 1 49 4

Kasun Rajitha 9 0 50 4

Chamika Karunaratne 9 1 58 0

Maheesh Theekshana 10 0 44 1

Dushan Hemantha 8 0 42 0

Dhananjaya de Silva 4 0 13 0

Sri Lanka

P Nissanka c Edwards b Meekeren 54

K Perera c de Leede b Dutt 5

K Mendis c van Meekeren b Dutt 11

S Samarawickrama not out 91

C Asalanka b Dutt 44

D de Silva b Ackermann 30

D Hemantha not out 4

Extras: (b 13, w 11) 24

Total: (5 wickets, 48.2 overs) 263

FOW: 1-18, 2-52, 3-104, 4-181, 5-257

Bowling O M R W

Aryan Dutt 10 0 44 3

Logan van Beek 10 0 57 0

Paul van Meekeren 8 1 39 1

Bas de Leede 3 0 29 0

Roelof van der Merwe 9 0 42 0

Colin Ackermann 8.2 0 39 1

Player of the Match: S Samarawickrama