On day of fluctuating fortunes, Sri Lanka and Netherlands enter Super 12

In the afternoon, Kusal Mendis seemed to have put it beyond Netherlands with a calculated 79 off 44 deliveries. Wiser after the Namibia rout, and ravaged by injury in soft, slow conditions, Sri Lanka posted 162 for 6.

🔸 Sri Lanka join England, Australia, New Zealand and Afghanistan in Group 1
🔸 Netherlands move to Group 2 which now has India, Pakistan, South Africa and Bangladesh

Updated Super 12 groups 👉🏻 https://t.co/TYT0TxUrsg #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/W2U39mOnB1

— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) October 20, 2022

A direct hit by Dhananjaya de Silva and two strikes by Wanindu Hasaranga reduced Netherlands to 109 for 8 after 17 overs. But there was to be a revival led by opener Max O’Dowd, born and raised across the Tasman Sea in Auckland.

Binura Fernando kept hurling it on O’Dowd’s pads, with fine leg and square leg in the circle, and was swung for three successive boundaries – six, four and four. Skipper Dasun Shanaka made it nine down with a direct hit at the non-striker’s end but O’Dowd survived a review for lbw next, and was on strike for the 18th from Maheesh Theekshana.

Theekshana had bowled superbly until then (3-0-16-2) but the pressure was to get to him now. He served up a full toss that was carted for six and also called a no-ball for height. The attempted free hit was pushed wide once and wide a second time; Theekshana had conceded nine runs without bowling a single legal delivery, and the equation had plummeted to 30 needed off 12. Theekshana managed to recover his control and although he gave away another six – a mighty slog-sweep by O’Dowd – he left Lahiru Kumara with a steep 23 to defend in the last over.

Sri Lanka beat Netherlands by 16 runs to seal their qualification to the Super 12 stage 👏#T20WorldCup | #NEDvSL | 📝 https://t.co/k4hjQDFFD9 pic.twitter.com/cC69AJ41Vy

— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) October 20, 2022

Kumara can so often be a hit-or-miss bower, but this time, he got the ball to climb awkwardly off his hard lengths and thwarted O’Dowd comprehensively for a 16-run win.

“They’re just cut-throat tournaments, aren’t they,” Netherlands captain Scott Edwards said after his team’s first defeat in three matches ahead of the Namibia-UAE game. “We think we’ve played a lot of good cricket in all three of the games. But yeah, the nature of these tournaments, one little slip-up, 15-20 runs and you can be knocked out. Hopefully, UAE can get up and we’re still going tomorrow.”

In the evening game, UAE had learnt from how Mendis and Sri Lanka had built their innings, and gave the first half to the conditions; Sri Lanka were 60 for 2 after ten overs, UAE made 58 for 1. Sri Lanka accelerated to 162, UAE took 21 off the last over from JJ Smit to reach 148.

Namibia crumbled to 69 for 7 by the 13th over and the Dutch could see themselves in the Super 12 already. Only the imposing figure of David Wiese, the 37-year old South African-Namibian dual international, stood in between the Dutch and agony-turned-ecstasy. The long-haired veteran all-rounder started powering the ball away, through gaps, through fielders’ legs, into the rope, over the boundary. No 9 Ruben Trumpelmann helped himself to a couple of massive slogs. From 64 off 30, Namibia suddenly needed just 20 off 12.

Heartbreak for Namibia 💔

UAE hold their nerve under pressure and Netherlands, at the expense of Namibia, are through to the Super 12 stage 😮#NAMvUAE | #T20WorldCup | 📝: https://t.co/5tE13IDHm4 pic.twitter.com/LvEc3BYliK

— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) October 20, 2022

Zahoor Khan came up with an excellent 19th over of yorkers and low full tosses, which went for only six runs. Still, Namibia were only a couple of hits away, and UAE were allowed only four men on the boundary, having exceeded their allocated time.

Opener Muhammad Waseem had bowled just one over, during which he had dropped Wiese and also missed a run-out chance off the same delivery with a wild throw. But he got his full deliveries right when it mattered, and off the fourth, Wiese failed to clear long-on. He trudged off, sank into his chair in the dugout and held his head in his hands as Waseem nailed his final yorker to give UAE their first win in the T20 World Cup.

“I can’t really put it into words,” a dejected Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus said. “It’s tough to try to decipher in the last two games where it went wrong.”

Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 162/6 (Mendis 79, Asalanka 31; van Meekeren 2-25, de Leede 2-31) beat Netherlands 146/9 (O’Dowd 71*, Edwards 21; Hasaranga 3-28, Theekshana 2-32) by 16 runs

Brief Scores: United Arab Emirates 148/3 (Waseem 50, Rizwan 43; Scholtz 1-22) beat Namibia 141/8 (Wiese 55; Hameed 2-17, Zahoor 2-20) by seven runs.