ICC Cricket World Cup 2023: Centurions Glenn Maxwell, David Warner, Adam Zampa propel Australia to biggest-ever win in WC history

Five-time champions Australia sent a strong statement that they are well and truly on the track with a massive 309-run mauling of the Netherlands in their fifth league game of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.

Having posted a mammoth 399 for 8 after electing to bat first, the Pat Cummins-led side bundled out Scott Edwards and his band for a paltry 90 in 21 overs at Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday (October 25).

The Dutch were not match against the mighty Aussies who were in a rampaging form after their skipper Pat Cummins elected to bat first. David Warner and Glenn Maxwell slammed imperious centuries on a pitch that was conducive for batting.

Later, spinner Adam Zampa emerged as the pick of the bowlers for Australia as he returned with superb figures of 4 for 8 from his three overs. The tweaker picked up his third four-for in three games.

In the big defence of 399, senior pacer Mitchell Starc provided the early breakthroughs to the Aussies and later a run-out sent back opener Vikramjit Singh who was looking good.

After Singh's departure the floodgates were opened and the entire Dutch middle-order and lower middle-order crumbled and their entire innings folded in 21 overs.

For the Australians it will be a confident-boosting victory as they've registered the biggest-ever win in the history of the World Cups by runs. This is the second-highest win in ODIs ever after Team India's 317-run mauling of Sri Lanka in Thiruvananthapuram earlier this year.

The day belonged to Maxwell as the right-handed swashbuckler created the record by slamming the fastest century in the ODI World Cup history off just 40 deliveries. Maxwell's 40-ball effort is also the fastest century by an Australian in this format.

By reaching the landmark in just 40 balls, Maxwell also went past South African Aiden Markram's previous record of 43 balls, which was also achieved in this edition. It was his his century stand for the seventh wicket with Cummins which helped the Aussies amass 144 runs in the last 10 overs.

Before Maxwell, David Warner too notched up his career's 22nd ODI century and second straight of the ongoing 10-team competition. Warner also became the fourth Australian player to score back-to-back centuries after Mark Waugh (1996), Ponting (2003-07) and Matthew Hayden (2007).

The left-handed batter (6) now also has the most World Cup centuries among Australians, going past Ricky Ponting (5) while joining India's Sachin Tendulkar.

He has also became the fastest Australian to reach his 22nd ODI ton, in 153 innings, and is third in the global list, behind Hashim Amla (126) and Virat Kohli (143).
From the Netherlands' perspective, Bas de Leede's spell of 2 for 115 was the most expensive in ODI history. Also, de Leede has conceded 100-plus in the format on four instances this year, the joint most by a bowler in a year, alongside Jacob Duffy, Adam Zampa and Cameron Green.