Sunrisers get confidence boost

The Sunrisers Eastern Cape returned to winning ways at St George’s Park on Saturday, claiming a 48-run victory over the Paarl Royals.

In the process, the defending back-to-back champions sealed third place on the SA20 log and will meet the Joburg Super Kings in the eliminator playoff in Centurion on Wednesday.

Their captain, Aiden Markram, won the toss and elected to bat against the Royals, who were once again captained by Bjorn Fortuin, and were much changed, with new dad David Miller recovering from a niggle too.

Australian replacement signing Mitchell Owen went straight into the playing XI and rookie Dewan Marais was also handed a debut. With Dinesh Karthik rested, Lhuan-dre Pretorius took the gloves.

The Sunrisers posted 148-8, courtesy of Jordan Hermann’s 53 off 38 balls and Tristan Stubbs’ 43 off 27. Stubbs smashed 23 runs in the final over delivered by Owen.

The Sunrisers’ seamers have been highly effective at St George’s Park and they delivered once more with the competition’s leading wicket-taker Marco Jansen (3-22) and Craig Overton (3-15) claiming six wickets between them to dismiss the Royals for just 100.

This story was first published on sacricketmag.co.za. It is republished here with permission.