Sri Lanka thrashed the Netherlands by 9 wickets with the quickest ever chase with 90 balls remaining to boost their net run rate in the Super 10 tie of the World Twenty20 on Monday. Chasing 40 for victory, the islanders reached the target in 5 overs losing one wicket to wrap up the match at the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong. Netherlands, who slayed both Zimbabwe and Ireland, en route to a famous entry into the Super 10s were brought crashing down to the earth. Their batsmen lacked the application and aptitude against Sri Lanka’s bowlers. In their chase of the shortest international T20 target, Sri Lanka lost opener Kushal Perera (14) who lobbed Ahsan Malik for a catch at mid-on. They had dismissed the Netherlands for just 39 runs, the lowest ever international Twenty20 team total. Put in to bat, the ambitious Dutch side had a nightmare start when they were reduced to 9 for 4 in four overs. This was the shortest innings in international T20 history as well. Stephan Myburgh (0) gave his side the worst start in the first over when he slogged at Nuwan Kulasekara’s third ball slicing it to the backwards point boundary, where Lasith Malinga pouched a comfortable catch. Angelo Mathews, from the reverse end, wreaked havoc on the Netherlands top-order sending back Michael Swart (0) and Wesley Barresi (1) in successive balls in his first over. A power cut after that paused the game for some time. As the lights were back and play resumed, the top Sri Lankan allrounder continued making inroads in his second over to trap Peter Borren in the front for the third Dutch duck. After adding 16 runs for the fifth wicket, the highest partnership of the innings, Ben Cooper (8) ran himself out to hasten their descent on 25 for 5. Tom Cooper topscored with 16 before being trapped leg-before by Ajantha Mendis. Malinga made a double strike in the 10th over, getting rid of Logan van Beek (1) and Mudassar Bukhari (4) in his second. In the next over, Mendis landed another Sri Lankan twin strike to send back Pietar Seelar (3) and Ahsan Malik (0). Mathews and Mendis bagged three wickets each. Malinga picked two with Kulasekera one. Sri Lanka came into the match with a close victory over South Africa by 5 runs.
