Dasun Shanaka guides Sri Lanka to victory over Netherlands

WHEN Sri Lanka needed a hero, captain Dasun Shanaka put up his hand as he helped his side secure a hard-fought three-wicket win over Netherlands in their first Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers warm up match at Queens Sports Club yesterday.

Shanaka top scored for Sri Lanka with an unbeaten half century as they successfully chased down the 215 runs target that Netherlands had set. Bowling first, the Lankans bowled out their opponents for 214 runs in 45,3 overs before going on to finish on 215/7 in 37 overs.

In the match’s first innings, Kasun Rajitha starred with the ball for the Asian champions, taking three wickets for 19 runs in his seven-over spell. Maheesh Theekshana also put up a splendid performance with the ball, finishing with figures of 2/36 in 10-overs while Dhananjaya De Silva finished with figures of 2/19 in four overs as they helped restrict the Dutch to a below par one-day cricket score. The other wickets that fell were taken by Lahiru Kumara, Matheesha Pathirana, and Chamika Karunaratne.

Saqib Zulfiqar top scored for Netherlands with 56 runs from 64 balls while Teja Nidamanuru fell for 41 runs after facing 62 balls. The Dutch’s third leading run scorer was the skipper, Scot Edwards with 35 runs from 48 deliveries.

Chasing what was a below par score, it was however not an easy task for Sri Lanka, who at some point in the game seemed to have been down and out with the Dutch taking charge. Netherlands struck in the fifth over of the second innings with Aryan Dutt claiming the wicket of Pathum Nissanka for 10 runs.

After a 54-run stand between Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis, Netherlands clawed back into the game to leave Sri Lanka on 98/6 in 21,2 overs. It took a special innings from Shanaka to see his team through. Shanaka scored a brilliant 67 runs not out off 52 deliveries while Karunaratne (Dimuth) fell three runs off his half century on 47 runs from 55 balls.

Clayton Floyd finished with the best bowling figures for Netherlands, claiming two scalps for 40 runs in seven overs while Dutt, Shariz Ahmad, Vikramjit Singh and Zulfiqar all took one wicket each.

At Bulawayo Athletic Club (BAC), Ireland won a high scoring encounter against the United States of America (USA) by five wickets. Batting first, USA finished on 312/6 in their 50-overs before the Irish went on to finish on 315/5 in 45,1 overs.

There were two half centuries from USA’s innings, coming from Aaron Jones (89 runs off 87 balls) and the captain Monank Patel (77 runs from 69 balls) to help guide their side to a defendable score.

The reigning International Cricket Council (ICC) Player of the Month for May, Harry Tector continued his scoring with a brilliant ton. The 23-year-old batter top scored for Ireland with an unbeaten 149 runs from 123 balls while Lorcan Tucker scored 68 runs, having faced 59 balls. Veteran Paul Sterling also managed to score a half century, finishing on 55 runs from 53 deliveries to guide Ireland to a comfortable win.

Tomorrow Ireland will go up against Netherlands at Queens Sports Club in their final warm up match while Sri Lanka will face USA at BAC to round up the matches.

The teams are using the warm up matches as preparations for the Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers which start on Sunday. m — @brandon_malvin