Batting has not exactly been the forte of the two-time defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape during this tournament, but there, when the situation came down to wresting victory from the jaw of a very resolute Joburg Super Kings batting line-up, it was Aiden Markram who put his hands up front, only for the bowlers to manage to strangle the Joburg Super Kings batting line-up at the Supersport Park, Centurion during the Eliminator on Wednesday.
A high-scoring match on the Highveld is never a bad thing; at this time of the year, this 184 on the scoreboard seems a defendable one, although SEC would have wanted to add a few more for cushion; anyway, it turned out to be sufficient for players like Craig Overton, Marco Jansen, and Ottnell Baartman to restrict the JSK to 152/7 on that day’s events.
The SEC have this win to keep their dream for the season on track, whereas they are looking to take on the Paarl Royals, who had lost earlier to MI Cape Town in Qualifier 1 at Port Elizabeth, while the JSK, skippered by Faf du Plessis, has ended their campaign.
After electing to bat first, JSK were in for a hiding when SEC openers David Bedingham and Toni de Zorzi speed off to a flier with a 46-run stand in the first four overs but with spinner Imran Tahir and Maheesh
Theekshana operating in tandem very early into the innings, JSK fought. From 46/0 in 3.1 overs, SEC found themselves in a spot of bother at 75/4 by the ninth over. Theekshana sent back de Zorzi for 14 before du Plessis took a stunner off Tahir to remove Bedingham for 27 off 14.
Moeen Ali contributed by taking the wicket of Tom Abell, who scored 10 runs off 10 balls, while Hardus Viljoen claimed Jordan Hermann’s wicket for a mere 12 runs. Nonetheless, with their key players still available, SEC delivered a powerful performance in the latter half of the match, led by their standout player of the tournament, Markram, who orchestrated play effectively in the middle. He received excellent support from Tristian Stubbs (26 runs off 21 balls) and Marco Jansen (23 runs off just 12), enabling SEC to amass an impressive total of 75 runs within the last five overs. This included a particularly expensive over—19th—where speedster Lutho Sipamla conceded 29 runs.
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Notably, Jansen’s figures of 4 overs without any wickets while conceding 72 runs have become the most costly spell recorded in SA20 history.
In response, JSK aimed for a strong start and found it through Devon Conway and Faf du Plessis as they put up a solid score of 40 in just five overs. However, Jansen provided a crucial breakthrough unexpectedly by dismissing Conway for 30 runs off 20 balls. Just moments before his dismissal, Conway had fiercely struck Jack Gleeson for three consecutive boundaries.
A few overs later saw Du Plessis’ flat-batted shot caught by Markram as he lost his wicket at a pivotal moment for Baartman. Liam Dawson claimed JP King’s wicket on the very next ball; consequently, by ten overs into the game JSK found themselves struggling and needed over eleven runs per over with their strongest batting lineup already dismissed.
Despite Jonny Bairstow’s efforts to keep JSK competitive with a rapid innings scoring 30 off only 17 deliveries, Ali’s swift departure without scoring was detrimental for Super Kings. With Bairstow falling victim to Dawson in the fifteenth over, hopes waned considerably for JSK; Evan Jones ended unbeaten on an innings worth of 22 from his eighteen deliveries as JSK concluded their innings at147/7 after twenty overs—ultimately losing by32runs.
Brief Scores: Sunrisers Eastern Cape 184/6 (Aiden /Markram 62*, David Bedingham 27; Imran Tahir 2/21) beat Joburg Super Kings 152/7 (Jonny Bairstow 37, Devon Conway 30; Craig Overton 2/20) by 32 runs.
