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sports desk/

Sri Lanka finished top of Group A in the T20 World Cup qualifiers yesterday to secure the Super Twelve by defeating the Netherlands. On the other hand, as Namibia lost against the United Arab Emirates, the Super Twelve was confirmed by the Netherlands as the runners-up of Group A.

West Indies-Ireland will enter the field today at 10 am in the qualifying round of Super Twelve. Scotland vs Zimbabwe at 2pm.
In the first match of the day, Dasun Shanaka’s team defeated the Netherlands by 16 runs in their last group match yesterday in Geelong.

The Netherlands topped the points table after winning the first two matches. However, after winning yesterday, Sri Lanka topped the table on net run rate. Kasun Rajitha got a chance in the XI yesterday in place of the injured Dushmant Chamira. Ashen Bandara replaced Danushka Gunathilaka, who was ruled out of the World Cup with a hamstring injury. After winning the toss and batting, Sri Lanka collected 162 runs for 6 wickets in the allotted 20 overs.

For the team, wicketkeeper Kushal Mendis scored 79 runs off 44 balls with five fours and five sixes. Charith Asalanka scored 31 runs off 30 balls, Pathum Nisanka scored 14 runs off 21 balls and Bhanuka Rajapaksa scored 19 runs off 13 balls. Paul van Meekeren and Bass de Leede took two wickets each for the Netherlands. Batting for a target of 163 runs, the Dutch could not score more than 146 runs for 9 wickets in 20 overs. Opener Max O’Dowd played an unbeaten innings of 71 runs off 53 balls for the team. Captain Scott Edwards scored 21 runs off 15 balls.

With this victory, Sri Lanka, who started the season after losing to Namibia in the first match, secured Super 2 from the top of the table. Wanindu Hasaranga took 3 wickets for 28 runs in 4 overs for Sri Lanka. Mahish Thikshana took two wickets, Lahiru Kumara and Binpara Fernando took one wicket each. After the victory, Sri Lankan captain Shanaka said, “We were the favorites of this group before the start of the tournament.” But we lost the first match. Then the credit of the way the team turned around goes to the cricketers.

On the other hand, Namibia, who started their T20 World Cup campaign by defeating Sri Lanka, lost their last match against the United Arab Emirates. As a result, the forehead of the Netherlands is opened. They lost against UAE by 7 runs. After failing to beat the United Arab Emirates in the last match, the Netherlands finished as the second team in Super Twelve Group A along with Sri Lanka.

United Arab Emirates scored 148 runs after winning the toss in Geelong and batting first, losing 3 wickets in the scheduled 20 overs. Opener Muhammad Wasim scored a half-century. Another opener Arvind returned to the dressing room with 21 runs. Captain Chundangapoil Rizwan played an unbeaten innings of 43 runs. All-rounder Basil Hamid was unbeaten on 25 runs off 14 balls. Going into bat with a target of 149 runs, Namibia started losing wickets from the start. They lost 7 wickets for 69 runs.

Two openers Michael Van Lingen and Stephen Bird scored 10 runs and 4 runs. Captain Gerard Erasmus scored 16 runs. Jan Frylink was dismissed for 14 runs. Then all-rounder David Wyse brought Namibia to the verge of victory with the bat. Namibia did not win in the end. Wise got out in the last over after scoring 55 runs off 36 balls. He was accompanied by Ruben Trumpelman who scored 25 runs off 24 balls. That was not enough to win.

Although the UAE won, they were also knocked out of the World Cup. With 4 points from Group A, Sri Lanka and Netherlands have qualified for the Super Twelve. The Netherlands will be Bangladesh’s first opponent in the World Cup.