Close Sri Lanka 292 for 6 (Atapattu 101) beat Holland 86 (Muralitharan 4 for 15) by 206 runs
Scorecard

Marvan Atapattu's sixth one-day hundred helped Sri Lanka to breeze to a 206-run victory over an inexperienced Dutch side - a win which rubber-stamps their spot in the semi-finals.

Faced with an imposing target of 293, Holland were dismissed for 86 - disappointing even by their standards. Their effort lasted for a painful 29.3 overs, but had they been asked to bat first, the game could have been over quicker than a Dutch opener's innings.

Holland made a disastrous start when they lost three wickets inside the first four overs. First to go was Robert van Oosterom, who gloved Pulasthi Gunaratne through to Kumar Sangakkara for a duck, closely followed by their star batsman Bas Zuiderent who was given out lbw - by the third umpire - to a Chaminda Vaas inswinger. Two balls later and it was the turn of Daan van Bunge to be adjudged lbw. This time no second opinion was needed. And that, ladies and gentlemen, was that.

Tim de Leede - in name and in spirit - showed some Dutch courage and was undoubtedly Holland's man of the match. Thanks to his gutsy 43-ball 31, they managed to restore some pride and credibility. His effort included a handful of dashing cover-drives off both the back and front foot. But in the 18th over de Leede miscued a pull straight up in the air which was gleefully snapped up by Sangakkara, two balls after an identical effort had been called no-ball.

It was then that Sanath Jayasuriya decided Holland had had enough fun on their big day out, and into the attack came the party-pooper Muttiah Muralitharan. All wickets count, and Murali wasn't complaining as he cleaned up the Dutch tail, all of whom cut hopeless and embarrassed figures as they attempted to negotiate his bamboozling offspinners. It really was most unfair.

But in reality the equation of 293 to win was never an option for the Dutch, who had earlier performed with spirit in the field to keep Sri Lanka under 300. The Sri Lankan total was always going to be a boundary or ten too far but, it was, nevertheless, a disjointed innings which never really got going. Atapattu was the only man to pass 50, and he played an impressively controlled knock with just eight fours, and was happy to scamper the ones and twos while his partners looked for the bigger shots.

Jayasuriya (36), who was playing despite an injured shoulder, slashed a drive straight to cover (59 for 1) while a distinctly out-of-sorts Sangakkara tried to play himself back into some sort of form, but only succeeded in clogging up an end as he scratched around in search of boundaries. He was eventually bowled attempting to sweep for 41 (175 for 2).

Aravinda de Silva had two early escapes, but he didn't survive the third chance he gave - if you can call it that. In the 41st over, he launched Adeel Raja over mid-on for what looked like a certain six, but that man de Leede, loitering at cow corner, had other ideas. Running back to the boundary, de Leede stuck his right arm high behind him and somehow grabbed the ball for a breathtaking catch. The batsmen and fielders certainly couldn't believe it, and it took a while for de Leede to believe it too (223 for 3).

In the 45th over, Dave Orchard called for the third umpire for an lbw decision, this time against Mahela Jayawardene. It was an odd moment - and somewhat historic - as Orchard had originally given him out but then, for some reason, referred it after all. After some confusion, it was ruled not out, but Jayawardene didn't survive his next referral, which came off the very next ball, when he was clearly run out from a direct hit by Zuiderent for 14. Atapattu then picked out Roland Lefebvre at midwicket to leave Russel Arnold and Chaminda Vaas to deal with the final ten overs.

Eighty-six all out in a 206-run defeat wouldn't please many international teams. But when you consider that only four of the Holland team at this level before, and not since the 1995-96 World Cup, Holland can take some satisfaction from their efforts with the ball - but maybe not so with the bat.

Freddie Auld is on the staff of Wisden.com

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