CWC2023 : Stokes 100 brings 2nd win for England in league phase v Netherlands

 

 England's test captain Ben Stokes  scored a century in the World Cup.  Stokes' century against the Netherlands came at a time when England had already been knocked out of the World Cup.  After five matches, England saw the face of victory.

 Thanks to Stokes' 84-ball 108-run innings, England batted first and scored 339 for 9 wickets.  In reply, Netherlands' innings ended on 179 runs in 37.2 overs.  Jos Buttler's team won the second World Cup 2023 match .  Wednesday's 160-run victory gave a slight boost to the last-time world champions' chances of playing in the 2025 Champions Trophy.

 Buttler won the toss and decided to bat first.  The English batted aggressively from the start against the relatively weak Netherlands.  Jonny Bairstow (15) did not get a big score but the other opener David Malan scored 87 runs off 74 balls.  10 fours and 2 sixes came from his bat.  However, Joe Root (28) again flattered to deceive  at number three.  He got out by his own fault trying to reverse lap and bowled through his legs .  Skipper Buttler's horror batting form continued.   After that, Stokes took the lead of England's innings.  The Test captain's innings gave England a somewhat familiar look after several days.  He brought the team to a good place.  His innings of 84 balls has 6 fours and 6 sixes consisted of some great strokes specially his drives and pull shots .  Stokes could not play the first few matches of the World Cup due to injury.  He was also seen taking an inhaler.  Buttler's side's big hope is  Stokes .   In the end, Chris Woakes' innings of 51 runs from 45 balls brought the innings of the defending champions to a good platform . The most successful bowler of the Netherlands, Bas de Leede, took 3 wickets for 74 runs.  Aryan Dutt took 2 wickets with 67 runs.  2 wickets for 88 runs by Logan Van Beek.

In response, Netherlands innings did not threaten that much despite some good batting .    Opener Wesley Baresi scored 37 runs off 62 balls.  His effort with 3 fours and 1 six failed to give the Netherlands innings the momentum it needed.  He has to suffer from the lack of a permanent partner at the other end of the wicket.  Seabrand Engelbrecht (33), Edwards (38) and Teja Nidamanuru (41 not out) scored runs for the Netherlands.  But nobody's innings could create a chance for the Netherlands to win.   The run-rate was also much lower than required.

 Moeen Ali, the most successful of England's bowlers, took 3 wickets for 42 runs.  Adil Rashid's 3 wickets for 54 runs.  Basically, the Netherlands batters were always uncomfortable in front of England's two spinners.  David Willey took 2 wickets for 19 runs.