Ben Stokes scored a fluent 108 in front of a 9,217 strong crowd as England beat Netherlands by 160 runs at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Wednesday. The result took the defending champions off the bottom of the table, and into 7th, boosting their Champions Trophy qualification hopes.
The turnout was not as good as the 31,940 for South Africa New Zealand at this very venue a week ago, but still a decent crowd for a weekday game involving two teams not really in the running for the semifinals.
After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, openers Jonny Bairstow and Dawid Malan added 48 runs for the first wicket, before Bairstow fell in the seventh over to Aryan Dutt.
Malan and Joe Root added 85-runs for the second wicket before the latter was dismissed by van Beek for 28. Left hander Malan’s run out however triggered a collapse as England from 139/2 slumped to 192/6.
Stokes reached his maiden hundred and Chris Woakes scored a quickfire fifty as England posted 339/9 in 50 overs.
In response, Woakes got England off to a fine start with the ball as he dismissed Max O’Dowd for 5. Colin Ackermann then fell to David Willey for a second ball duck.
Wesley Barresi along with Sybrand Engelbrecht put on 55 runs for the third wicket stand before the former was run out for 37. Adil Rashid then cleaned up Bas de Leede for 10.
The fall of skipper Scott Edwards (38) ensured a quick end to proceedings as the Dutch lost their last 5 wickets for 16 runs, and they were eventually bowled out for 179 in 37.2 overs.
With this win, English kept their 2025 Champions Trophy qualification hopes alive.
England 339 for 9 (Stokes 108, Malan 87, Woakes 51) beat Netherlands 179 (Nidamanuru 41*, Moeen 3-42, Rashid 3-54, Willey 2-19) by 160 runs