Harare: After clinching the final two spots for the Men’s ODI World Cup to be held in India from October 5 to November 19, Netherlands and Sri Lanka skippers, Scott Edwards and Dasun Shanaka, have set their sights on winning the Qualifier tournament, which ends through Sunday’s finale.
Heroics from all-rounder Bas de Leede, who hit a maiden ODI century after taking his first five-wicket haul, helped the Netherlands secure a four-wicket win over Scotland, chasing down the target inside 44 overs to overtake their opponents’ net run rate and clinch a spot in the ODI World Cup.
“Going into the tournament, qualifying was part of it, but we wanted to win the tournament. So once we celebrated qualifying, we’ve moved straight onto preparing for this game and we’re looking forward to hopefully playing a good game of cricket tomorrow,” Edwards was quoted as saying by ICC.
Edwards scored an unbeaten 67 the first time the sides met, Sri Lanka winning by 21 runs despite being held to just 213 batting first. That was one of the few games in which openers Max O’Dowd and Vikramjit Singh had failed to fire, both going for ducks –- and Edwards admits that it was the batting that was the issue in that Super Six clash.
“As a batting group, we know we have got to play better than we did last time against them. Hopefully, we can show that we are a better batting unit than we did the last time. Throughout the tournament, Max and Vikram have been sensational, probably two of the better openers at this tournament so for us, they have played a massive part in our qualifying and hopefully they can keep doing what they are doing and set the platform for us,” he added.
On the other hand, Sri Lanka, the 1996 World Cup winners, have won seven out of seven games in the ongoing competition in Zimbabwe, most recently cruising to an eight-wicket win over the West Indies.
Skipper Dasun Shanaka revealed that the squad will be at full strength for the final in Harare and is confident they can wrap up the tournament with a final win.
“As a full member country, it’s important to win this series and the way we have played in this tournament, I am sure we will do well and win. What is important is to continue the winning streak while controlling our strengths.”
As well as meeting in the Super Six, the teams also played a warm-up match against one another, and Shanaka has been impressed by the Netherlands in those two meetings, particularly their ability to play the situation of a game to perfection.
“They are a good side, they have played good cricket, reaching their potential. They stick to their basics really well. When it comes to the Netherlands’ batting, I think they analyse really well. They understand the situation.”
“What we saw from their batting, they had a plan when it came to the second game (in the tournament). We saw that they came up with a really good plan going into the second game. We expect something from them, but we are prepared as well and have our own plans,” he concluded.
(IANS)
