T20 World Cup 2024: Sri Lanka Register Consolation Win Over Netherlands in Final Group D Match

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Sri Lanka ended the T20 World Cup 2024 on a high, beating Netherlands by 83 runs in their final Group D match at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in Gros Islet, St Lucia.

After top knocks by Charith Asalanka, Kusal Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva followed by late cameos from Angelo Mathews and skipper Wanindu Hasaranga powered Sri Lanka to 201/6, Nuwan Thushara did the damage with the ball to bundle out Netherlands for 118.

With Super 8 spot still in their sight, the Dutch started well with the opening duo of Michael Levitt (31 off 23 balls) Max O'Dowd (11 off 8 balls) added 45 from 27 balls until Thushara struck in the fifth over to trigger a collapse.

Skipper Scott Edwards scored a fighting 31 off 24 balls, but his efforts could only see Netherlands cross the 100-run mark as Thushara (3 for 24) finished as the top wicket-taker for Sri Lanka.

Hasaranga and Matheesha Pathirana also claimed two wickets each, while Maheesh Theekshana and Dasun Shanaka, who played his 100th T20I, took a wicket-a-piece for Sri Lanka.

Earlier put into bat, Asalanka (46 off 21 balls), Mendis (46 off 29 balls) and Dhananjaya (34 off 26 balls) played crucial knocks, while unbeaten cameos from Hasaranga (20* off 6 balls) and Mathews (30* off 15 balls) helped Sri Lanka breach the 200-run mark.

For Netherlands, Logan van Beek (2 for 45) was the top wicket-taker, but was very expensive as the rest of the bowling attack including Vivian Kingma, Tim Pringle, Aryan Dutt and Paul van Meekered chipped in with a wicket-a-piece.

With this result, Sri Lanka, who were eliminated from the Super 8 race early, registered their first win of the T20 World Cup 2024, where they suffered defeats to South Africa, Bangladesh and saw their game against Nepal end in a wash out.

Netherlands, meanwhile, came close in their defeats to South Africa and Bangladesh, who eventually sealed the Super 8 spots from Group D, a group of death in the first round. The Dutch, however, had beaten Nepal in their tournament opener.