AUS vs NED: David Warner, Glenn Maxwell hundreds power Australia to biggest-ever World Cup victory
Australia came up with a resounding victory over the Netherlands in New Delhi as they brought their World Cup 2023 campaign back to life on Wednesday, October 25.
Australia hammered the Netherlands by 309 runs, the biggest margin of victory in the history of the tournament, bettering their own record from 2015 – 275-run win against Afghanistan in Perth.
Australia began their World Cup campaign with 2 successive defeats and questions were asked of their preparations and team combinations. However, the 5-time champions have shown that they are in it to win it by notching up three successive victories.
Australia cemented their 4th spot with 6 points from 5 matches, 2 more than Pakistan but Australia took their Net Run Rate to +1.142.
The Netherlands were bowled out for 90 in 21 overs as Australian bowlers were as good as their batters on Thursday in the capital city. Adam Zampa jumped to the top of the bowling charts in World Cup 2023 as he finished with figures of 4 for 8, running through the Dutch lower order. Mitchell Marsh chipped in with 2 wickers while the big trio of pacers, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, chipped in with a wicket each.
THE BIG SHOW IN DELHI
The star of the match for Australia was Glenn Maxwell, who returned to his absolute best after having had a slow start to his World Cup campaign in India. Maxwell hit 40-ball 100, the fastest World Cup hundred, breaking Aiden Markram’s 49-ball effort from earlier in the tournament.
Glenn Maxwell gave himself a bit of time after walking into bat in the 40th over and he got to his fifty in just 27 balls. He switched to 6th gear in the latter half of his innings, getting his next fifty in just 13 balls.
David Warner also played his part, hitting his second successive hundred in World Cup 2023. Warner’s 104 helped him equal Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of 6 hundreds in the 50-over showpiece event. Warner is now just 1 behind Rohit Sharma’s World Cup record of 7 hundreds.
Warner survived a run-out chance on 32 after a horrible mix-up with his good mate Steve Smith, who made 71, and he rode the luck to put on a show, getting to 104. Warner, playing his last World Cup in the 50-over format, set the platform for the lower-middle-order to go big.
Marnus Labuschagne hit his first World Cup fifty but he was not able to push on and get a big one.
However, Maxwell’s knock was the highlight of the tournament. After not having a good start to the World Cup campaign following his return from a lengthy injury layoff, Maxwell’s form was under the lens. He got out for a first-ball duck while trying to hit a big shot in the very first delivery he played against Pakistan in Bengaluru.
However, on Wednesday, he took his time and played in the V before cutting loose and switching to 6th gear. Maxwell hit 8 sixes and 9 fours in knock that will be remembered for the ages.
With momentum under the belt, Australia will next face the Netherlands on Saturday in Dharamsala.