England skipper Jos Buttler stated that their team wants to finish their time in India on a high with a victory and that their match against Pakistan will be very important. The defending champions defeated the Netherlands by 160 runs to snap their losing streak in the ongoing marquee event.
The match in Pune was crucial because England, the defending champions, had been struggling in the competition and had previously lost multiple games that had eliminated them from the ODI World Cup. They came back stronger against the Netherlands to keep their hopes of qualifying for the Champions Trophy 2025 alive.
Jos Buttler believes that the encounter between England and Pakistan in Kolkata is very important. During the post-match press conference, the captain of England remarked that they wanted to perform well before leaving India and stated that they would draw confidence from their performance against the Netherlands.
“Yeah, vital. It’s a huge game for us. We haven’t performed the way we wanted to this whole trip, and we’d like to leave India putting in a proper performance. So, yeah, it’s a huge game for us,”
“Yeah, they’re a top team. We look forward to a really good game against them and it will start again. But yeah, we can take confidence from the stuff we’ve done well today” Jos Buttler said
The highlight of the match was when Ben Stokes scored his first World Cup century. His innings of 108 runs off 84 balls was a significant factor in England’s 339/9 total. Stokes and Chris Woakes combined for 129 runs, which allowed the English to climb from 192/6 in 35.2 overs to 339/9 in 50 overs, with Dawid Malan providing a much-needed start to the innings.
In their bowling innings, the Netherlands was bowled out for 179 in 37.2 overs. Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali both took six wickets to help England overcome the Netherlands by 160 runs. This victory kept England’s hopes of winning the Champions Trophy alive and ended their World Cup losing run.
England is now going through one of their worst-ever ODI World Cup campaigns after being knocked out of the ICC competition before reaching the semi-finals. Entering the World Cup as the defending champions, England played poorly but would look to win their game against Pakistan to confirm their spot in the 2025 Champions Trophy.
