Defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape walked away from Durban with maximum points having beaten the Durban’s Super Giants in an SA20 League at Kingsmead Stadium in Durban on Saturday.
Thanks to explosive batter in Tristan Stubbs’ lusty blows towards the end of the match, together with all-rounder Marco Jansen, the Gqeberha-based franchise successfully chased down a steep target of 160 runs on what was a difficult surface to bat on.
Stubbs and Jansen (24 off 14, 2x4, 1x6) combined for a crucial 66-run stand, taking the Sunrisers from a spot of bother with the score reading 97/5 with just over 5 overs remaining in the chase and still requiring 67 runs to get over the line.
The home side Super Giants had a good start with Reece Topley (1-29 off 4 overs) and Keshav Maharaj (1-22 in 4 overs) getting the wickets of the destructive opening duo of David Malan (2 off 8) and Jordan Hermann (25 off 26), respectively.
Tom Bell (1 off 1) fell soon after, and in came Stubbs, joining captain Aiden Markram (38 off 29) in the middle and the pair put together a 56-run stand before Stoinis struck twice dismissing Markram and Patrick Kruger in consecutive deliveries.
However, the visitors still had hope as Jansen already demonstrated his batting skills in the inaugural season. With Stubbs alongside him, the pair saw the visitors return a five-wicket victory with 4 balls to spare.
Earlier, De Kock’s (7 off 8) struggles continued at the top of the order with the opening batter returning yet another low score while leaving the young Matthew Breetzke with a lot of work to do.
As he had been doing right from the start of the season, Breetzke soldiered on and put on 35 off 24, a knock that saw the right-handed batter smash five boundaries and a solitary six before he became spinner Simon Harmer’s first victim of the day.
Harmer, right from the start of the tournament, knew he had big boots to fill as Roelof van Der Merwe’s replacement in Sunrisers team.
Following what was an expensive start to the tournament, the spinner was under pressure with captain Markram and coach Adrian Birrell desperate for a wicket-taking spinner in the side.
Harmer finally delivered on Saturday afternoon returning figures of 4-18 in his allotted four overs.
After claiming the prized wicket of Breetzke, Harmer went on to account for three big wickets including that of the in-form Heinrich Klaasen (31 off 17, 1x4, 3x6), Marcus Stoinis (1 off 9) and Jon-Jon Smuts (9 off 11).
With the big guns back in the pavilion, the Sunrisers managed to squeeze the Super Giants batting unit, restricting them to a decent 159/7.
However, Wiaan Mulder (52 off 29, 3x4, 4x6) had scored a half-century, a knock that was all in vein in the end.
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