Men’s ODI World Cup: Maxwell, Warner, Zampa shine as Australia hammer Netherlands by historic 309 runs

NEW DELHI — After Glenn Maxwell and David Warner’s brilliant show with bat, Australia’s Adam Zampa spun a web around the Netherlands’ batter as Australia achieved the biggest victory in WC history – 309 runs in the 24th match of the ongoing ICC World Cup, here on Wednesday.

Zampa scalped four wickets, while Mitchell Marsh took two to bundle the Netherlands out for just 90 in 21 overs at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.

Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazelwood and Pat Cummins also managed to take one wicket each.

The five-time champions earned two points, and got a massive NRR boost, and are once again on course for a spot in the semis if they continue this way.

A target of 400 was always going to be daunting and fans wanted to see how Netherlands would respond to the target.

However, it turned out to be a disappointment. The wickets just kept tumbling, and Zampa ran through the tail. Zampa now has the most wickets at the 2023 WC with 13 wickets.

Vikramjit Singh (25) was the highest scorer for the Netherlands.

Earlier, Maxwell scored the fastest century (106 off 44 balls) of the World Cup to guide Australia to a mammoth 399/8.

Maxwell reached one of the most entertaining ODI centuries of all time in just 40 balls, breaking the previous record held by Adien Marken (in 48 balls) at the same ground.

Maxi smashed the Netherlands’ bowlers in all parts of the stadium. And he was given a standing ovation by the crowd for his thrilling innings

Meanwhile, David Warner, too, hit an impressive 104 runs off 93 balls. Warner made the ton more iconic by celebrating it in his famous ‘Pushpa’ style at the almost packed stadium. It was his 6th ODI World Cup ton.

After deciding to bat first, Australia didn’t get the kind of start they thought of as Mitchell Marsh (9) lost his wicket to Logan van Beek in the fourth over.

From there, Warner and Steven Smith (71) built up a solid 132 runs partnership to put Aussies on the drivers’ spot. Both the batters played some brilliant shots to entertain the cricket fanatics present in the stadium.

However, Aryan Dutt dismissed Smith to break the partnership. M Labuschagne (62) then joined hands with the opener batter to frustrate the Netherlands bowlers. The duo stitched 84-runs together.

At 244, Australia lost Labuschagne. Next batter Josh Inglis (14) also failed to spend time on crease as he was sent back early by Bas de Leede.

Soon after that, Warner also got out by Logan Van Beek.

But from there Maxwell changed the gear and entertained the cricket fanatics with some brilliant eye-catching shots all over the ground.

Also read: Men’s ODI WC: South Africa ride de Kock’s 174, Klaasen’s 90 to 149-run win