Netherlands' lower middle order batters Sybrand Engelbrecht and Logan van Beek broke the record for the highest partnership for a seventh wicket in ODI World Cups. Engelbrecht and Van Beek shared a 130-run partnership for the seventh wicket against Sri Lanka at Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on October 21. The previous record was held by Indian skipper MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja who shared a 116-run partnership for the seventh wicket against New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup semi-final.
This was only the fifth instance of a 100-plus seventh wicket partnership in ODI World Cups. The previous highest seventh-wicket partnership for the Netherlands was 57 runs between Mudassar Bukhari and Tom Cooper against West Indies in the 2011 World Cup.
Earlier, Netherlands skipper Scott Edwards won the toss and opted to bat first. Kasun Rajitha and Dilshan Madushanka got rid of top five batters. Maheesh Theekshana dismissed the skipper as the Netherlands were reduced to 91/6 in the 22nd over.
Engelbrecht got a reprieve early in the innings as Kusal Mendis could not react early to a half-chance. Engelbrecht reached his half-century from 65 balls. He was dropped again as the ball popped out of the fielder's hands after putting in a dive. The partnership was broken in the 46th over. Madushanka returned into the attack and got the wicket of Engelbrecht who scored 70 runs from 82 balls featuring four fours and one six.
Van Beek reached his half-century from 68 balls. In the penultimate over, Rajitha got his wicket with a slower ball. He scored 59 runs from 75 balls including one four and six each. The Netherlands posted a fighting total of 262 on the board.
This was also the second instance of two Dutch batters at no.6 or below registering fifty-plus scores. It is the fourth instance of 50-plus scores from no.7 or below in World Cups.
“Yeah, I'm happy, I think we got to a competitive total in the end. We were in trouble, myself and van Beek tried to take it till the end, he batted beautifully. It was a tricky pitch to bat on, swing early on and there was turn, so I think if we bowl well, this should be a competitive score. We decided to take it slightly deeper and that allowed us to take chances towards the end. We've got a lot of supporters from our people here and back home,” Engelbrecht told the broadcasters during the innings break.
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