END OF OVER:20 | 6 Runs | NED: 146/9 (17 runs required, RR: 7.30)
- Max O'Dowd71 (53b)
- Roelof van der Merwe0 (1b)
- Lahiru Kumara4-0-28-1
- Maheesh Theekshana4-0-32-2
But as for myself, Shashank and the team, it's bye for now!
Alright then, Sri Lanka are through, but the fate of the final remaining qualifier from this group is still up in the air. Namibia of course need to beat the UAE to qualify, any other result and it's the Netherlands that will be joining Sri Lanka in the Super 12s. You can catch all the action for that game over here.
Dilan K: "@rahul so how many are they supposed to play? In this case SL, NAM and NL will all end up with same points if NAM win. It's not a feasible solution. "
Mustafa Moudi: "@Rahul: In that case, The qualifying round must be played a few months earlier as playing 11 Matches inside 28 days (4 Qualification Stage 5 Group Stage and 2 Knockouts) to win the tournament would be too hectic !!"
Nalinda: "Sri Lanka has a big issue with seamers at the death overs, Binura is not at his best. Chameera, Madhushan, and Madushanka's absence is a huge loss and at the moment no any other bowler to replace them. If Sri Lanka got hammered from Dutchmen today like this, Group 12 stage will be a disaster for Sri Lanka, unless they find a quick solution to this. Getting 2-3 wickets at the first power play is the key in T20I cricket. Sri Lanka are obviously below par the performance at Asia Cup."
Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka: "We knew that when we came to the World Cup we would be the favourites in this group. Unfortunately we missed out in the first game, but we regrouped and we came back strong. Credit to all the boys. [Thoughts at the halfway stage?] I thought the wicket wasn't easy to bat on, it was a bit two-faced. So I thought in the first 10 overs we were able to control the scoring rate really well."
Netherlands captain Scott Edwards: "I think we bowled pretty well in the powerplay. Little bit unlucky I think that there were a lot of balls that didn't quite go to hand. Without getting those wickets up top we knew they were going to be dangerous through the middle and back end. Hopefully the UAE can help us get through, but it was in our hands and just disappointed we weren't quite there tonight."
Mustafa Moudi: "Spare a thought for Bas De Leede who has picked 7 Wickets and scored 58 Runs (winning 2 Man of the Match Awards) and has to sit out due to one ordinary game only with the bat !!"
Rahul Sargam: "ICC has been changing the rules and its good to see that, but someone like me has always wondered why can't they make a rule on teams who end up winning same matches and depend on their run rates should be playing another deciding match, run rate is cruel, just look at the way Dutch have played this game, almost over the line and thus I feel that ICC should implement something like this and keep a reserve day for the teams if they end up winning the same amount of matches. "
Player of the Match is unsurprisingly Kusal Mendis: "Early on the wicket was a little bit slow, so the plan was to take singles and hit the loose balls. Then after 10 overs we could go for more runs. Asalanka started a little slow, but after 15 balls he knew the wicket better; him hitting the three boundaries after that made it easy for me."
6.30pm So Sri Lanka win by 16 runs in the end, and secure a place in the next round. They had an almighty scare in game one, but they've bounced back well. Spare a moment for Max O'Dowd whose unbeaten 71 goes in vain, though it's not all over yet, as Netherlands can still qualify if Namibia lose to the UAE.
Sri Lanka's win was built around a fantastic 79 off 44 balls from Kusal Mendis, that helped them overcome a slow start to set up a healthy target. Then the Lankan spinners throttled the game with key wickets, and despite O'Dowd's heroics, Sri Lanka held on to the win.
Khurram : "What happened to van der merwe?" He picked up an injury while bowling.