Samarawickrama remain unbeaten on 91 runsPhoto: AFP

Sri Lanka has finally seen victory in the World Cup. The team, who started the tournament with three consecutive losses, defeated the Netherlands by 5 wickets in the fourth match today. Coming down with happy memories of defeating South Africa, the Dutch batted first and scored 262 runs. Sri Lanka reached the target with 10 balls and 5 wickets in hand.

Sadira Samarawickrama led Sri Lanka to their first win of the tournament after losing to South Africa, Pakistan and Australia. The right-handed batsman remained unbeaten with 91 runs off 107 balls.

Samarawickrama played an innings of 108 runs against Pakistan in Hyderabad last week. Today Lucknow brought that rhythm to the Ekana Stadium. When Samarawickrama came on in the 10th over of the innings, Sri Lanka were 52 for the loss of 2 wickets. Neme could have been out. When offspinner Arian Dutt went forward, the ball evaded the bat and went behind. Due to some bounce, wicketkeeper Scott Edwards could not take it with his gloves, otherwise he could have been stumped for zero runs.

Samaravikrama left the field after winning the team Photo: AFP

The 28-year-old batsman has not given the Netherlands much of a chance after getting a 'new lease of life'. He left the field with victory confirmed. In the middle, he made three pairs of 52 with Pathum Nishanka, 77 with Charit Asalanka and 76 with Dhananjaya de Silva. After making a pair of fifty runs, Nishanka returned for 54 runs, Asalanka for 44 and Dhananjaya for 30 runs. Samaravikrama was not in a hurry as the run rate was within reach. Sate Nama reached the winning target with Dushan Hemant off the second ball of the 49th over.

Earlier, Seabrand Engelbrecht and Logan von Beek, who came down to number seven and eight, brought capital to fight for the Netherlands. After winning the toss, the Dutch went down to bat and lost 6 wickets for 91 runs under Kasun Rajita's pace ball. From there, Engelbrecht and von Beek made a pair of 130 runs in the seventh wicket. This is the highest run-scoring partnership for the seventh or subsequent wicket in World Cup history. India's Kapil Dev and Syed Kirmani's unbroken 126-run stand against Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup was the highest so far.


Engelbrecht-Von Beek put on a 130-run partnership for the seventh wicket Photo: AFP

After playing an innings of 70 runs from 82 balls, Engelbrecht got out leaving the team at 221 runs. And Von Beek, who was out as the ninth batsman, played an innings of 59 runs off 75 balls. Rajitha took 4 for 49 and Dilshan Madushanka took 4 for 50 for Sri Lanka.

In the end, however, Sri Lanka had to wait for Samarawickrama's unbeaten innings to win. This wicketkeeper-batsman also became the man of the match.

Short score
Netherlands: 262 in 49.4 overs (Englebrecht 70, von Beek 59, Ackerman 29; Rajita 4/49, Madushanka 4/50).

Sri Lanka: 263/5 in 48.2 overs (Samarawickrama 91*, Nishanka 54, Asalanka 44, Dhananjaya 30; Arians 3/44).

Result: Sri Lanka won by 5 wickets.

Man of the Match: Sadira Samarawickrama.