Sri Lanka 1-40 (Kusal Perera 14, Tillakaratne Dilshan 12, Ahsan Malik 1-18) beat Netherlands 39 (Tom Cooper 16, Ben Cooper 8, Ajantha Mendis 3-12, Angelo Mathews 3-16) by nine wickets.
The dangerous bowling attack of the Lankan Lions demolished the batting line up of the minnows Netherlands, at the lowest total ever in the history of T20 internationals.
The innings of the Dutch team was folded back for mere 39 runs in 10.3 overs and the Islanders reached the target by thrashing 40 runs with nine wickets in hand and 90 balls to spare.
Angelo Mathews (Sri Lanka) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his superb bowling figures of 3-12.
The ICC World T20 – 19th Match, Group 1, was played on Monday, March 24, 2014.
Earlier, Dinesh Chandimal won the toss for the Lankan Lions and invited Netherlands to bat first. The top order batsmen surprised the rival bowlers since they surrendered their wickets without any fight. The first four wickets were gone for just nine runs while Tom Cooper and Ben Cooper shared a partnership of 16 runs before the latter lost his wicket for eight runs. Tom Cooper was declared leg before wicket off Ajantha Mendis for 16 and the entire Dutch team was bowled out for 39 in five overs.
Angelo Mathews and Ajantha Mendis were the highest wicket takers with three, Lasith Malinga held two whereas Nuwan Kulasekara got one wicket.
Kusal Perera and Tillakaratne Dilshan went for the easiest chase of their career by smashing 20 runs on 11 deliveries. The first was caught by Michael Swart off Ahsan Malik for 14 and was replaced by Mahela Jayawardene who remained unbeaten for 11. Dilshan was at the other end at 12 as the Islanders achieved the target by powering 40 in just five overs.
Sri Lanka won the game with comfort by a huge margin of nine wickets and enhanced their points to four.
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