We should have got over the line vs Sri Lanka: Scott Edwards

On Friday at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo, Netherlands let slip a golden opportunity to edge close to qualifying for the 2023 World Cup, and in the aftermath of the side’s defeat against Sri Lanka, a dejected Scott Edwards was unable to hide his disappointment.

A fine bowling performance saw The Dutch bowl the Lankans out for 213, and they were in pole position to win the contest at one point in the chase, coasting at 88/2. But a careless and needless Wesley Barresi (52) run-out triggered a fatal collapse as Netherlands lost their last 8 wickets for just 104 runs to fall short by 21 runs. 

Edwards, skipper of the side who was left stranded on 67*, revealed that he thought at the halfway mark of the match that his side were in the driver’s seat.

"Yes, definitely, we're disappointed. At the halfway mark, we thought they were under-par,” Edwards said.

“We had a good start. Credit to them, they bowled well in that little patch there and we couldn't get over the line. We bowled well throughout the whole innings.

"Dhananjaya batted exceptionally well, he didn't give us many chances. We were disappointing with the bat. A run-out like that or a great piece of fielding can change the game. We bat deep and we should have got over the line.”

Edwards admitted that the defeat stung more because he knew that his side had the ability to get over the line. It was only four days ago that Netherlands had knocked off 374 in the second innings to take the Windies encounter to a Super Over and win.

“Going into the game, we knew we had guys who can bat. All the way, I was confident. There was a bit of reverse at the end there and a bit of spin. We will go back and have a look at what we could have done better.”

Netherlands would have been in an extremely good position to qualify for the 2023 World Cup had they won on Friday, but the defeat has set them back significantly. They’ll now have to win their last two matches handsomely and hope for other results to go their way. 

Qualification from here is unlikely, but Edwards is unwilling to throw in the towel.

“In this whole tournament, you never know what's going to happen. We'll do what we can in the next two games,” the skipper said.

Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe both have six points each, and are overwhelming favorites at this point to qualify for the 2023 World Cup in India.