Sunrisers coach says team will ‘bounce back’ after ‘massive’ loss to MI Cape Town

While disappointed with losing their opening game of the 2025 edition of the SA20 competition, Sunrisers Eastern Cape coach Adrian Birrell is confident his team will bounce back quickly.

The Sunrisers were beaten by 97 runs by MI Cape Town in the season opener in Gqeberha on Thursday night, the first time the Capetonians have got the better of the Eastern Cape team. In all four previous matches between them, before Thursday, Birrell’s team have come out on top.

But some good batting by MI Cape Town and a stunning 5/10 in three overs by Delano Potgieter ensured the Sunrisers will have to have a rethink about their plans in the coming days.

‘I’m not despondent,’ says Birrell

“We got blown away in two spells,” said Birrell, referring to MI Cape Town’s Trent Boult picking up two wickets in two balls early on in his team’s chase and then Potgieter picking up five wickets late on.

“Trent was really good, he got us into trouble, and then Potgieter got five … he blew us away at the back end.

“We’re not going to over analyse this. We lost by a big margin, 97 runs is a massive loss, and it puts us in a situation where our net run rate is poor, so we will have to play well from here. But, while I’m disappointed, I’m not despondent. I believe in our players and I’m sure we’ll bounce back in a couple of days.”

For the record, after being sent in to bat, MI Cape Town posted a total of 174/7, and then bowled out the Sunrisers for 77 in 15 overs.

Birrell added there was no additional pressure on his team to make it three title wins in a row.

“We’ve spoken about it, and the last two victories are now history. We have to start again,” he said.

“I’ll take confidence from the fact my teams never win their first game,” added the veteran coach. “We’re slow starters … and it’s not how you start, but how you finish.

“We will, however, have to get back on the horse again and ride it better. We weren’t good today (Thursday), maybe it was a wake-up call, so we’ll just have to play better in the games to come.”

‘Special’ result for MI Cape Town

Potgieter, who hit an unbeaten 25 off 12 balls to boost MI Cape Town’s total and then took five wickets for 10 runs, said it was “special” to beat the Capetonians for the first time.

“We played some phenomenal cricket and it was a special win. It’s only the first game but it’s nice to start with a win,” he said.

The 28-year-old said it was the first time he’d been asked to bowl for MI Cape Town. “In the two previous seasons I never bowled, because we have such a strong bowling lineup.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better day.”