Marco Jansen of Sunrisers Eastern Cape celebrates a wicket with his teammates. Picture: SA20
The fire is burning brightly again in the camp of the Sunrisers Eastern Cape after their third straight win in the 2025 edition of the SA20, against the Pretoria Capitals on Wednesday night.
The two-time defending champions are now very much back in contention to feature in the playoffs and push for a third straight title. It has been a quite stunning turn-around for the Sunrisers, who lost their first three games in the competition.
On Wednesday night in Gqeberha, in front of their passionate home fans, they beat the Capitals by 52 runs for a bonus point victory. The win followed back-to-back triumphs against Durban’s Super Giants home and away.
Aiden Markram, who has found form in the competition and scored an excellent 68 not out on Wednesday, will next lead his charges against the Joburg Super Kings in Gqeberha on Friday night in what is shaping up to be a huge game.
Another win for the Sunrisers will just about secure their place in the knockouts, while a defeat for the Super Kings will bring Durban’s Super Giants and the Pretoria Capitals right back into the playoff picture.
Sunrisers all-rounder Marco Jansen, who scored a crucial 24 runs off 20 balls on Wednesday and also took a stunning 4/13 in his four overs, explained how the team has managed to turn their campaign around.
“Before the season started, during a camp, coach Andy Birrell said a team is like a fire.
“If we lose and the fire starts going out every team member must refuel the fire by grabbing as many twigs as possible, to put on the fire, to give it energy to get it going again.
“I think that’s what we did really well after those first three losses … honed in on staying together even though it wasn’t going well. I think now the fire’s burning like it’s supposed to burn and hopefully we can keep it like that.”
Jansen though said it was important for the Sunrisers to not get ahead of themselves.
“We’re trying to keep things as level as possible. Any team can beat any team on the day. We’re lucky we’ve managed to win three in a row now.”
Regarding his own personal form, Jansen said he was happy with his bowling and batting at the moment.
“It’s not the best I’ve felt rhythm-wise, but confidence-wise it feels Iike I know where the ball is going to go and what it’s going to do off the wicket, and that’s a really nice feeling to have,” said the all-rounder. “I will try and extend that for as long as possible.” ends
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