England have salvaged a small bit of pride at the Cricket World Cup courtesy of a 160-run victory over Netherlands.
Sitting at the bottom of the group, defeat in Wednesday's fixture in Pune would have guaranteed that minnows Netherlands would finish above England in the table.
However, the dethroned champions controlled proceedings, Ben Stokes making a fine 108 to help England to 339-9 before Netherlands were bowled out for 179.
Jonny Bairstow (15) and Joe Root (28) again underperformed with the bat, but Dawid Malan ensured that he provided England with the platform to win the game.
The opener made 87 from 74 - a knock that included 10 fours and two maximums - before he was run out, and the poor efforts of Harry Brook (11) and Jos Buttler (5) put the pressure on Stokes.
He delivered when required, though, as he hit six fours and six maximums on the way to 108 from 84 deliveries, with his efforts aided by the support of Chris Woakes who contributed 51 from 45.
A target of 340 already seemed out of Netherlands' reach before they were reduced to 13-2, but Wesley Barresi (37), Sybrand Engelbrecht (33) and Scott Edwards (38) kept their side's feint hopes alive.
Nevertheless, England's bowlers impressed as a unit, David Willey (2-19), Moeen Ali (3-42) and Adil Rashid (3-54) playing instrumental roles in dismissing Netherlands for 179 after just 37.2 overs.
With England prevailing by a huge margin, they advance from 10th to seventh in the standings, relegating Netherlands to last with one match remaining. body check tags ::
