Sadeera Samarawickrama displayed unwavering composure in his unbeaten half-century as he guided Sri Lanka to a clinical five-wicket win over the Netherlands, their first victory in this World Cup, here on Saturday.
South Africa-born Sybrand Engelbrecht (70) and Logan van Beek (59) led a remarkable recovery with maiden half-centuries to help the Netherlands post a fighting 262 after they opted to bat.
In reply, Dutch off-spinner Aryan Dutt (3/44) snared Kusal Perera (5) and skipper Kusal Mendis (8) inside the Powerplay, but Sri Lanka never lost sight of the target on a dry and spinning pitch with Samarawickrama anchoring their chase.
Lending solidity to the middle-order, Samarawickrama, who slammed a maiden ODI hundred against Pakistan earlier, got to a well-deserved half-century — his sixth in ODIs — off 53 balls en route to his unbeaten knock of 91 to seal Sri Lanka’s chase with 10 balls to spare.
Now placed eighth on the points table, this was Sri Lanka’s first win after enduring three losses on the trot this World Cup.
Pathum Nissanka (54) came up with a third straight half-century to set it up before Samarawickrama and Charith Asalanka took care of the chase with a 77-run fourth-wicket stand.
Kusal Mendis, the Lanka captain, was pleased with his team. “The bowlers did well in the first ten overs. The pitch started turning a bit towards the end of the match. Pathum and Sadeera batted really well, and so did Charith. There are a lot of positives in the batting,” he said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Sri Lanka next play England on October 26.
With inputs from PTI