At the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023, Sri Lanka were put through their paces for the first time, but thanks to the heroics of Dhananjaya de Silva and Maheesh Theekshana, they were able to come back from a difficult situation and win the match against the Netherlands.
Dhananjaya struck 93, which is his greatest score in one-day internationals, to assist Sri Lanka in climbing back from 96 for six to make 213.
And then Theekshana proceeded to derail the Dutch pursuit by taking three wickets in the space of two overs, resulting in a victory for his team by 21 runs.
In the second match that took place that day in Harare, Ireland defeated the United States of America in the 7th place play-off semi-final with relative ease, winning by a score of six wickets.
The Netherlands have Sri Lanka stretched to its breaking point.
In the very first ball of the match between the Netherlands and Sri Lanka, Pathum Nissanka was bowled by Logan van Beek for a duck, which served as an early indication of the Dutch team’s aggressiveness.
That was part of a great start for the Dutch, who swiftly had the Sri Lankans 34 for four as Van Beek (3/26) displayed his prowess with the ball four days after his heroics with the bat against the West Indies. The Dutch quickly had the Sri Lankans in trouble at that point.
Dhananjaya de Silva’s stunning performance was the only way that Sri Lanka was able to reach 213 runs before they were all out, and even with that, it did not appear like it would be anywhere near enough.
However, just as the Netherlands appeared to be on track in their reply, Maheesh Theekshana (3/31) changed the tide by quickly taking three wickets, and the Netherlands ultimately fell short by 21 runs.
They had gotten off to such a good start. Nissanka was out after facing only one delivery, and it took until the fourth over for Ryan Klein to catch Kusal Mendis (10) in front of the wicket.
Dhananjaya was brought to the crease as a result of Van Beek’s introduction of Sadeera Samarawickrama (1) and Charith Asalanka (2).
He started to rebuild with Dimuth Karunaratne, who later fell for 33, and then skipper Dasun Shanaka left the game for five; Saqib Zulfiqar (2/48) was responsible for both of these guys falling out of the game.
Wanindu Hasaranga produced some crucial runs, making 20 in a 35-run stand with Dhananjaya. Theekshana then joined Dhananjaya when he was dismissed by Bas de Leede for LBW with the score of 3/42.
After adding 77 runs together, the pair helped Sri Lanka reach above the 200-run mark before both of them were dismissed inside the space of three deliveries.
Even though the batting surface was difficult, the Dutch were confident that they could achieve their objective of 214 runs.
Their cause was not helped by the fact that both of their openers were dismissed for a duck; Lahiru Kumara took out Vikramjit Singh, while Dilshan Madushanka was responsible for Max O’Dowd’s dismissal.
Despite this, Wesley Barresi (52) and De Leede (41), who put on 77 runs together, were able to get the chase back on track. It came to an end thanks to some excellent work in the field by Shanaka, who caught Barresi a step short of his base when he was attempting to steal a single.
Hasaranga then bowled Teja Nidamanuru, making him the third batsman for the Dutch team to go out without scoring. After the introduction of Scott Edwards, the captain immediately became comfortable alongside De Leede, and the two of them added 36 runs in the space of six overs.
The breakthrough, which came about because to Theekshana sneaking one past De Leede’s defenses, was something that Sri Lanka desperately needed, and it was provided by him.
He then added two more in the next over, including the crucial wicket of Van Beek, before Shariz Ahmed was run out for two, bringing the score for the Netherlands to 151 for eight.
Edwards and Ryan Klein added 25, inching closer with the needed rate not an issue. However, a perfect wrong’un from Hasaranga was too excellent for Klein (5) to overcome.
Because of this, the last couple had 38 runs to get in 17 overs, and although Edwards was in good form and helped them come close, the skipper was left stranded unbeaten on 67 when Aryan Dutt was clean bowled by Shanaka.