‘Not an upset’ if Dutch keep winning at the World Cup
DUTCH batsman Teja Nidamanuru believes it will not be an “upset” if his team defeat Sri Lanka today (7am start SA time) and keep alive their bid to reach the Cricket World Cup semifinals.
After stunning South Africa by 38 runs on Tuesday for their first victory over a Test-playing nation at the 50-over global showpiece, the Netherlands turn their attentions to 1996 champions Sri Lanka.
The Asian side is the only one at the 10-team event without a victory after three demoralising defeats.
Sri Lanka beat the Dutch twice in the qualifying tournament staged in Zimbabwe, but Nidamanuru says that will only fuel his team’s ambitions today.
“We’ve competed against Sri Lanka multiple times in the qualifiers, and obviously we fell short in our batting side,” he said.
“We’ve worked extremely hard on that, so we are here to play well and win. I wouldn’t call it an upset, if I’m honest.”
At the qualifiers, Sri Lanka came out on top by 21 runs and then 128 runs in the final.
Indian-born Nidamanuru was out for a duck in both of those games, although he cracked a century in the victory over two-time champions West Indies.
For Sri Lanka, spinners Maheesh Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga claimed 11 wickets between them in the games in Zimbabwe.
However, leg-spinner Hasaranga was ruled out of the World Cup through injury, while off-spinner Theekshana has struggled to shake off a hamstring strain in India. He has just one wicket from two games.
“I think if we assess those two games that we played against Sri Lanka, it’s our batting department that probably didn’t live up to the expectation,” admitted Nidamanuru.
“In the final, we kept them down to a good score, we could have chased that. But obviously their spin through the middle was something that troubled us.”
Nidamanuru, 29, is desperate to get going with the bat at the World Cup.
So far, he has scores of 5, 21 and 20 with his team losing to Pakistan and New Zealand before gaining their first win against South Africa.
“It’s a little bit frustrating. Obviously, I’d love to be contributing more towards the team’s success,” he said.
“I personally feel good. I can feel that it’s around the corner.”
Another win today may help to push cricket a little higher up the sporting agenda in the Netherlands, where it remains a mystery to large parts of the population.
“The cricketing community in the Netherlands is very small. I’d say in total there won’t be any more than 5 000-odd people that play cricket,” said Nidamanuru.
“But it’s a close and tight-knit community, because everyone knows everyone.
“The awareness of the game is growing, which is a really huge positive for us, because quite often when you say you play cricket, not many people know what that is.”