Netherlands batters Sybrand Engelbrecht and Logan van Beek on Saturday broke the record for the highest seventh wicket partnership in ODI World Cups during their match against Sri Lanka at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow.
Batting first, Netherlands were reeling at 91/6 before Engelbrecht (70 off 82) and Van Beek (59 off 75) put together a crucial partnership for their team. They stitched a 130-run stand for the seventh wicket, which is now the highest for that wicket in World Cup history.
The duo of Engelbrecht and Van Beek surpassed India cricketers MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja, who held the record previously with their 116-run stand during the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup against New Zealand.
During the semi-finals of the last World Cup, the pair of Dhoni and Jadeja gave hope to Indian fans with their partnership after New Zealand ratted the top order batters. However, their efforts were not enough as India eventually suffered a heart-breaking 18-run loss.
At the mid-innings break, Engelbrecht spoke about the batting mindset and team’s total.
“Yeah, I am happy (on his knock). We have gotten a competitive total. A lot of credit goes to Logan (van Beek) – he batted beautifully. There is some turn on this pitch and it is tricky to bat on,” the Netherlands batter said.
“We decided to take it slightly deeper and that allowed us to take chances towards the end. We’ve got a lot of supporters from our people here and back home. We will have to bowl very well. I am happy with the total and we are up for the challenge,” he added.
Feisty fifties from Sybrand Engelbrecht and Logan van Beek helped Netherlands post a challenging total of 262 in 49.4 overs. Kasun Rajitha (4/50) and Dilshan Madushanka (4/49) starred with the ball for Sri Lanka.
