The Netherlands finished on 146-9, falling short of the large mark set by the eighth-ranked team in the world, which racked up 162-6, blasting 102 of them off the final 10 overs.

As Asian champions Sri Lanka defeated the Netherlands by 16 runs on Thursday to advance to the Twenty20 World Cup’s Super 12 round, opener Kusal Mendis smashed a 44-ball 79.

Following the latter match between Namibia and the United Arab Emirates in Geelong, the Super 12 group in which they will compete will be decided.

The African team already has a better net run rate, thus a victory would eliminate the Dutch and advance them to the next round.

Sri Lanka has advanced to the Super 12 for the third time in a row, and they will be looking to emulate their exploits from 2014 when Dinesh Chandimal led them to victory.

But it was a difficult journey to get there; after being defeated by UAE and now the Netherlands, it was upset by Namibia in the tournament’s first game.