T20 World Cup 2021: Day 2 Review – Ireland thump Netherlands, Sri Lanka cruise past Namibia
The second day of the ongoing T20 World Cup witnessed relatively one-sided matches compared to the action on day 1. Ireland defeated the Netherlands comfortably in the afternoon game while Sri Lanka breezed past Namibia to settle early World Cup jitters.
Curtis Campher stars for Ireland in an easy win
The Netherlands won the toss and opted to bat first. But they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Ben Cooper and Bas de Leede didn’t contribute much to the total. However, the real blow to their innings was given by Curtis Campher who became the third bowler to pick four wickets off as many balls in T20 Internationals.
The Netherlands slipped from 51/2 to 51/6 in the 10th over and could never recover. Their opener Max O’Dowd battled hard to score 51 off 47 balls and it was due to him that the Netherlands managed to reach 106 runs in their 20 overs.
Not to mention his double hat-trick 🥵
Well played, Curtis Campher 👏#T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/yO3BlN8hlN
— ICC (@ICC) October 19, 2021
Ireland lost two quick wickets in the small chase. Kevin O’Brien and Andrew Balbirnie’s early losses made the match interesting for some time. But Gareth Delany had other ideas. He played his shots freely while scoring 45 off 29 balls in the 59-run partnership with Paul Stirling to make the match a no-contest.
Stirling didn’t look in the best of forms but made sure he held one end and remained unbeaten on 30 off 39 balls as Ireland cantered to victory in the 16th over with seven wickets in hand.
Sri Lanka go past Namibia in a one-sided game
Sri Lanka opted to bowl first against Namibia and their bowlers did a good job. Maheesh Theekshana was the star bowler for Sri Lanka as he nipped out the opposition openers early. Erasmus and Williams then rebuilt the innings but the run-scoring of the team was too slow. The pressure eventually led to the fall of quick wickets and Namibia collapsed.
A roaring start for Sri Lanka in their #T20WorldCup 2021 campaign 🔥#SLvNAM | https://t.co/0Th6K2IchA pic.twitter.com/5IvVk9vsUX
— ICC (@ICC) October 18, 2021
They lost their last eight wickets for just 28 runs and got bundled out for just 96 in the 20th over. Theekshana returned with the figures of 3/24 for Sri Lanka while Kumara and Hasaranga picked up a couple of wickets each.
The chase should have been clinical but Sri Lanka found themselves in trouble at 26/3 at one stage. Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera and Dinesh Chandimal got out without scoring much which made things interesting. But Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Avishka Fernando made sure they settled nerves in the dressing room.
The duo played some decent cricket in the middle and added an unbeaten 74 for the fourth wicket to take Sri Lanka over the line in the 14th over itself. Rajapaksa remained unbeaten on 42 while Fernando played a calm hand of 30 runs.
