Durban’s Super Giants: 115/8 (Williamson 44, Naveen-ul-Haq 30*, Dawson 2/11, Gleeson 2/19, Jansen 2/23, Baartman 2/30)
Sunrisers Eastern Cape: 117/4 (Bedingham 39, Markram 31*, Maharaj 2/18)
Sunrisers Eastern Cape won by six wickets
Zaahier Adams at St George’s Park
GQEBERHA - The Sunrisers Eastern Cape had a date with Carte Blanche on Sunday evening as they raced to a second consecutive bonus point victory over Durban’s Super Giants at a stirring St George’s Park.
The defending champions are suddenly looking like the team that have won back-to-back SA20 titles and not the bumbling group that stumbled to three consecutive defeats at the start of this season’s competition.
And the revival has been kickstarted by their bowling unit once again. The Sunrisers have always relied on their pacemen to set the tone and it was Marco Jansen that took on the mantle here.
Liam Dawson's catch was so good, even Quinton de Kock couldn't believe it 🤯#BetwaySA20 #SECvDSG #WelcomeToIncredible pic.twitter.com/P8KtXJ1fsc
The lanky fast bowler was the leading wicket-taker in the competition with 20 scalps last season, and showed semblance of the same form on Sunday.
Jansen struck with his second ball of the innings when he removed Super Giants’ West Indies opener Brandon King for a duck.
The early wicket set the famous St George’s Park brass band in motion and from that moment they could not be silenced as the Sunrisers ran through the Super Giants to restrict the visitors to 115/8.
With wickets falling regularly to Jansen (2/23), Richard Gleeson (2/19), Ottniel Baartman (2/30) and left-arm spinner Liam Dawson (2/11), the atmosphere within St George’s Park was vibrant throughout.
The Orange Army had come out in their numbers and were dancing in the aisles after every wicket.
New Zealander Kane Williamson (44 off 45 balls) played a lone hand to keep the Super Giants afloat before last-man Naveen-ul-Haq (30 not out off 15 balls) swung merrily to at least see the visitors limp past the 100-run mark.
The target was always going to prove much too small despite the valiants of Super Giants’ mystery spinner Noor Amad once again with the ball.
Fresh off a four-wicket haul in the last match against the Sunrisers at Kingsmead last Friday, Noor was easily the most threatening of the Super Giants bowlers.
Unfortunately for the visitors, Noor only had David Bedingham’s scalp to show for his efforts.
It certainly wasn’t due to lack of effort as Noor searched for more, but overcompensated by dropping a couple of shorts which allowed the Sunrisers to maintain the momentum with a couple of boundaries.
Prior to Bedingham being trapped LBW by Noor, the Proteas Test batter had finally found a rhythmic tempo to his innings and seemed set for a really big score.
He stroked the ball powerfully all around St George’s Park and even hauled out his trademark pull for six over mid-wicket.
Durban’s Super Giants captain Keshav Maharaj (2/18) stalled proceedings with a couple of wickets, but it only delayed the inevitable with his counterpart Aiden Markram (31 not out off 20 balls) hurrying his team home with an enormous six off Junior Dala to seal the bonus point with four balls remaining in the 16th over.
The Sunrisers have now leapfrogged both the Super Giants and Pretoria Capitals into fourth place and seem set to take full advantage of a stretch of home matches still to come this week.