Batting first against the Netherlands in their eighth match in the World Cup, England collected 339 runs at the end of the scheduled 50 overs based on the century of Ben Stokes and the double fifties of David Malan and Chris Woakes.
Stokes completed the first century in the ICC ODI World Cup. Netherlands need 340 runs to win.
England captain Jos Buttler won the toss and elected to bat first in Pune on Wednesday (November 8). The Englishmen, who were already out of the tournament, started batting aggressively from the start. The current champions were progressing well under the bat of two English openers Jonny Bairstow and Malan. Bairstow didn’t find the rhythm that way but Malan continued to score quick runs at the other end. England lost their first wicket in the seventh over of the innings. Bairstow, who scored 15 runs, returned to the dressing room with a catch by Paul van Mackeren and got a top edge while sweeping the paddle from Aryan Dutt on the back foot.
On the other hand, Malan picked up a half-century off 36 balls. This is his third half-century in this World Cup. Meanwhile, Malan was progressing well with Joe Root, who dropped to third. Logan van Beek broke the pair of 85 runs between the two of them. Root, who scored 28 runs, was bowled while scooping the reverse of this right-handed pacer. After this right-handed batsman, Malan, who was on the way to a century, was run out and returned to the dressing room. Malan played a brilliant innings of 87 runs before getting out.
Harry Brook could not last long at number five. Brooke returned with an 11-run catch to Colin Ackerman at deep square leg as he was bowled off the stumps by Bas de Leede. English captain Jos Buttler has once again disappointed by coming to the crease. Butler, who scored 5 runs, caught Nidamanuru standing at mid-off off a slower ball from van Mackerin.
Moeen Ali also made the bar of failure heavy. This left-handed batsman who scored 14 runs caught Aryan’s ball. But keeping one end, Stokes picked up a half century on 58 balls. He made a pair of 129 runs for the seventh wicket with Woakes. Stokes also touched the magical figure of three with a flurry of four-sixes. The star all-rounder scored a 78-ball century by reverse-sweeping Van Mackerin’s ball.
Chris Woakes provided great support for Stokes. This English all-rounder runs with the ball. He also picked up the sixth fifty of his career. Woakes played an important innings of 51 runs from 45 balls before being dismissed by D Lee. Stokes, who played an innings of 108 runs, got out after hitting Van Beek for a six on the fourth ball of the last over of the innings. Bas de Lied took the maximum 3 wickets for the Netherlands. Aryan Dutt and Van Beek also took two wickets each. Van Mackeren gets 1 wicket.
