Cricket World Cup: Ben Stokes’ ton leads England to comprehensive win over Netherlands | Cricket News

Ben Stokes smashed his first World Cup century to help lead England to a comprehensive 160-run victory over the Netherlands in Pune.

England looked in trouble when Joe Root (28) was nutmegged attempted a reverse scoop shot and captain Jos Buttler (five) and Moeen Ali (four) both fell cheaply to leave them 192-6. But Stokes, as he often does, pulled his side to their second victory of the tournament, keeping them in contention for the Champions Trophy.

Opener Dawid Malan (87) and Chris Woakes (51) both batted spectacularly at opposite ends of the order to help England post 339-9.

In reply, the Netherlands struggled to build a substantial partnership with none of their batters making it to a half-century and collapsed from 163-6 to 179 all out by the start of the 38th over.

England’s spinners Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid both picked up three wickets apiece and managed to keep the Dutch at bay by taking wickets at regular intervals.

The victory saw England climb up to seventh place in the table with the Netherlands replacing them at rock bottom. The top seven teams and hosts Pakistan will qualify for the Champions Trophy in 2025.

Stokes to the rescue

Aryan Dutt (2-67) made the opening breakthrough as he picked up the wicket of Jonny Bairstow (15) who played a tame paddle sweep to short fine leg where he was caught by Paul van Meekeren.

Dawid Malan (87) smashed his third half-century of the tournament off 36 balls and shared a 85-run stand with Root (28) to pull England to 133-1 by the 20th over.

Root attempted to play his trademark reverse scoop off a back-of-a-length delivery from Logan van Beek (2-88) but instead was nutmegged for the second time in this tournament. The first was against New Zealand earlier in the World Cup.

Malan’s cameo included 10 boundaries and two sixes but the 36-year-old attempted to sneak through for a quick single, had to turn back and put in a dive, but by that time Van Beek had already whipped off the bails with his bat inches away from the crease line.

Harry Brook (11), who replaced Liam Livingstone in the side, pulled a short ball from Bas de Leede (3-74) into the deep where he was caught by Ackermann as the Netherlands collected three wickets for only 31 runs leaving England 164-4.

Buttler’s disappointing form continued after he timidly launched Van Meekeren to mid-off, making the same mistake he did against Australia at long-off, and was caught by Nidamanuru. Leading up to the World Cup, Buttler was averaging 48 but has fallen to 14 in this tournament.

It seemed as though Stokes took notes from Glenn Maxwell’s majestic innings on Tuesday. He arrived at the crease when England were 132-2 and marched with authority to his seventh World Cup half-century off 58 balls with a six over deep mid-wicket. From that point on, Stokes dealt mostly in maximums, smashing six fours and six sixes.

He shared a 129-run stand with Chris Woakes (51), who also played with beautiful fluency, hitting a 43-ball fifty but the fast bowler was caught behind after De Leede caught a faint edge.

Netherlands hit rock bottom

England struck early against the Netherlands with Max O’Dowd (five) caught at mid-on by Moeen Ali (3-42) and Colin Ackermann (0) out for a golden duck to leave their opponents 13-2 by the sixth over.

Third-wicket pair Wesley Barresi (37) and Sybrand Engelbrecht (33) added 54 runs to pull the Netherlands to 68-3 after Root dropped Engelbrecht earlier on 16 at mid-wicket who then smashed the very next delivery into the stands for six.

A combined effort from Moeen and Woakes (1-19) saw Barresi run out, while Engelbrecht miscued a straight drive to mid-on and was caught by the latter bowler.

Spin twins Moeen and Rashid (3-54) skittled through the Netherlands middle and lower order which saw them lose their final five wickets for only 16 runs.

Logan van Beek (two) ballooned a full and wide delivery from Rashid to short fine leg where Malan took the catch. Roelof van der Merwe attempted to sweep Moeen but instead was out for a golden duck – the second of Netherland’s innings.

Rashid pulled out his trusted googly to bowl Aryan Dutt (one), while Van Meekeren (four) was stumped by Buttler after he wandered far out of his crease.

The final wicket of Van Meekeren denied Teja Nidamanuru (41) from reaching a half-century. He looked like Netherlands only hope for a victory after smashing two boundaries and three sixes earlier in his outing.

The defeat means the Netherlands are officially out of the World Cup.

Stokes: Nice to get back on winning terms

Player of the Match, England’s Ben Stokes:

“I’m more pleased for us to get a victory and get over the line, to be honest.

“It has been a tough World Cup, so it’s nice to get back on winning terms today. It was a nice wicket to bat on. I tried to take it as deep as possible and then cash in at the end.”

Edwards: Same old story with the bat

Netherlands captain Scott Edwards:

“It’s obviously disappointing. We didn’t start well with the ball, we let them get away from us.

“I thought the bowlers did really well to drag it back, but they got away at the end to set a score just above par, and it was the same old story with the bat.

“We’ve been good in patches, but we’ve just got to do it for longer. England are a quality side and if you let them back into the game, like we saw today, they’ll make you pay for it.”

Buttler: Stokes always there to stand up and take charge

England captain Jos Buttler:

“We were absolutely desperate for the win.

“We got off to a great start, Malan got us off to a bit of a flier, before we then hit a bit of a speed bump in the middle. But the partnership from Stokes and Woakes was fantastic.

“Any time you need someone to stand up and take charge, Ben seems to be the guy to do that. We’re delighted to have him in the team out there for that situation.”

What’s next?

New Zealand come up against Sri Lanka at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Thursday with coverage on Sky Sports Cricket from 8am ahead of the first ball at 8.30am.

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