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A thumping, record-breaking win for Australia over Netherlands brought them back into semifinal contention after having started off poorly in the 2023 World Cup.
Australia sealed off the biggest victory in World Cup cricket as they pummelled their opponents by 309 runs to reach six points from five matches. It was also the second-largest win by runs in ODI cricket.
David Warner and Glenn Maxwell led the Aussie charge with centuries to their name on a placid Arun Jaitley Stadium pitch in Delhi before Adam Zampa grabbed a four-fer to finish off the Dutch resistance even before it began.
On a day when records fell in a heap, Maxwell’s 40-ball century was also the quickest in World Cup cricket as Australia hammered 131 runs from the final 10 overs of their innings. Maxwell took a mere 13 balls to go from 54 to his century, such was the disdain in his batting.
Warner said “I enjoy running, putting pressure on bowlers and fielders – Virat Kohli does it often”. #AUSvsNED pic.twitter.com/X7StymrjBg
— Daily Detect (@DailyDetect) October 25, 2023
Australia, who had earlier won the toss and batted first, lost Mitchell Marsh early but half-centuries from Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne kept them in the hunt for a score of northward of 330.
Even a bit of a mini-collapse which saw them go from 244 for two to 290 for six did not dent those chances but what followed was something seen from South Africa in this World Cup.
Maxwell joined Warner after they had lost their fourth and started to get going after Cameron Green ran himself out. Such was his batting prowess that of the 109 runs scored after the loss of Green’s wicket, only 13 were scored by the batsmen at the other end to Maxwell.
In response to this monumental effort, Netherlands looked to have begun well through Vikramjit Singh and Max Dowd who added 27 in the first three overs.
Unfortunately for Netherlands that’s where it all started to go wrong for them with the bat.
Mitchell Starc got the better of ODowd and Vikramjit was run-out by Maxwell soon after. The middle-order provided no resistance at all as wickets tumbled at regular intervals and they had soon lost half their side for 84.
Leg-spinner Adam Zampa would then go on to pick up four wickets in his three-over spell, conceding just eight runs, to finish off the rest of the Dutch reply.
Having shocked South Africa in one of their previous matches, Netherlands had fallen to a paltry 90 all out here.
On the other hand, not only did the win get Australia to six points but it also improved their net run-rate to 1.14. They are now fourth on the table.
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