Jason Roy struck 101 and Jos Buttler smashed 64-ball 86 as England chased down a target of 245 with 119 balls to spare to win the third one-day international against the Netherlands and clinch the series 3-0 on Wednesday.
The first ODI matches between the two countries outside a Cricket World Cup have followed an expected course, with England winning by 232 runs, six wickets and now eight wickets over the past six days in Amstelveen.
Sterner white-ball examinations will come for England on home soil this summer in the shape of India and South Africa, before the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia starting October.
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“It’s a great start and a good benchmark for us to see where we are all at individually,” Roy said. We have got big tests in the summer coming up and it’s time to get back and go again.”
The Netherlands’ total of 244, which included 64 off 72 balls from captain Scott Edwards, never looked enough against world-champion opposition and on what has been a run-scoring paradise outside Amsterdam given the fast outfield and short boundaries.
The only blip in England’s reply saw Phil Salt (49) and Dawid Malan get dismissed in the space of three balls, but Roy and Buttler got the innings back on track with an unbroken partnership of 163 runs off 125 balls.
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Buttler got England to its target with a nonchalant flick down the ground for six as England finished on 248-2 off 30.1 overs. Buttler, standing in as captain for the injured Eoin Morgan, hit seven fours and five sixes.
It was Roy’s 10th ODI century, and he reached it in 86 balls — just before Buttler ended the match
Max O’Dowd (50) and Bas de Leede (56) also weighed in with half-centuries for Dutch at Amstelveen, where England smashed a world-record 498-4 last week in winning the first ODI.
David Willey took 4-36 off 8.2 overs, including the final wicket of Paul van Meekeren (2), as the Dutch were dismissed with four balls remaining of their allotted 50 overs.
“We’ll take some good learnings,” Edwards said. “The boys will be better for this.
“I thought that today was a harder wicket and they (England) made it look easy.”
