Aiden Markram of Sunrisers Eastern Cape, in action against DSG on Sunday. Picture: SA20
The Sunrisers Eastern Cape are back in the SA20 playoff hunt after they thrashed Durban’s Super Giants by six wickets, claiming a bonus point win in the process, in their match at St George’s Park in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) on Sunday afternoon.
It was a fantastic bowling performance that limited DSG to well below par 115/8 batting first, which allowed the hosts to cruise to 117/4 within 16 overs to pick up the extra point.
It lifts them up to fourth on the table on 10 points, level with the third placed Joburg Super Kings, and is the perfect response after they lost their first three games in a row, and have now won their last two.
“To be honest I didn’t expect it to play the way it did. I don’t think it was a dreadful wicket, it just had more bounce than we expected,” said Sunrisers captain Aiden Markram after the match.
“So when it’s doing something with the new ball you feel like you need your seamers to strike and they were magnificent for us in the power play.
“That allowed our spinners to keep it controlled in the middle and take the odd pole (wicket) here and there and keep pressure on, and we got the reward for it.”
David Bedingham got the Sunrisers chase off to the perfect start with a blistering 39 off 20 balls (4×4; 1×6) which saw them on 57/1 after seven overs.
But DSG fought well to pull the Sunrisers back to 61/3, and then have them 93/4 after 14 overs, with the bonus point almost out of reach.
But Markram, 31no off 20 (2×4; 2×6), who struggled initially in scoring 10 off his first 15 balls, then helped 24 come off eight balls, including hammering a six out the ground to get them the bonus point.
On chasing the bonus point Markram said: “Initially you don’t really pay too much attention to it, you just need to have a good powerplay to earn that right. The guys played really well in the powerplay, Bedders (David Bedingham) getting us off to a great start.
“Fortunately the good start meant we didn’t really need to search for it, we knew one or two big overs and the job would be done.”
The DSG innings was essentially a procession as the Sunrisers bowlers dominated, with Liam Dawson, 2/11, Richard Gleeson, 2/19, Marco Jansen, 2/23, and Ottneil Baartman, 2/30, putting on a clinic.
However, they will be kicking themselves that they were unable to bowl the visitors out for under 100, with Kane Williamson top scoring with 44 off 45 balls, but it was number 10 batter Naveen-ul-Haq that got them over that mark as he smoked an unbeaten 30 off 15 (4×4; 1×6).
No other batters got out of single figures as Jansen picked up the first two, while Gleeson struck twice in the final over of the powerplay, including having Jon-Jon Smuts (2) stunningly caught one handed by Dawson at mid-off, leaving them on 18/4 after six overs.
Dawson then spun a web, including getting the huge wicket of Heinrich Klaasen (6) as DSG tumbled to 61/7 in the 15th over.
But they then allowed the visitors to rally and see out the 20 overs, which got them to a total that could have been a banana peel with the hosts chasing the bonus point.
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