Summary:
- Ben Stokes century helps England get a win over the Netherlands
- England keep alive hopes of qualifying for the 2025 Champions Trophy
- England’s next challenge will be a lot tougher as they play Pakistan on 11 Nov
England who went into their game against Netherlands on 08 Nov with a tremendous amount of pressure on their shoulders.
The defending champions who many UK bookies had backed to retain their trophy have played extremely poorly during the 2023 ICC ODI World Cup in India that resulted in them winning just 1 out of the 7 games they have played before the Netherlands game.
England went into the game on a 4 match losing streak that effectively ended their World Cup campaign. There were two main things at stake during the Netherlands game and that was playing for pride and playing to qualify within the top 8 teams on the points table in order to gain entry to the 2025 Champions Trophy.
England batted first and for once their batting order did not let them down. That was largely due to an impressive knock from opener Dawid Malan who scored 87 from 74 balls and a fantastic century from all-rounder Ben Stokes who hit 108 from 84 balls. England almost lost their momentum towards the end but Chris Woakes held the innings together scoring 51 from 45 balls that helped England get to 339.
The Netherlands found it difficult to score freely as Chris Woakes and David Willey showed great control with the new ball. The Dutch lost wickets at regular intervals and the English spinners got the majority of the wickets as Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid picked up 3 wickets each to dismiss the Netherlands for 179.
England ended up winning by 160 runs and Ben Stokes walked away with the man of the match award. England now have 2 wins from 8 matches and currently occupy the 7th spot on the points table.
England’s next game at the ODI World Cup will be against Pakistan on Nov 11. It is going to be another tough game for the defending champions who will be keen to secure another win in order to ensure they qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy.
Pakistan are currently in 5th place on the points table and will be desperate to beat England and push for a place in the ODI semi-finals.
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