Sunrisers Eastern Cape thrash Capitals by 10 wickets to storm to the top of the SA20 table

Sunrisers Eastern Cape delivered an emphatic statement with a first-ever Betway SA20 victory over Pretoria Capitals at Centurion on Monday.

The two-time champions stormed to the top of the table with a comprehensive 10-wicket victory, which earned the Eastern Cape side a third bonus point.

Openers Quinton de Kock (79 not out, 41 balls, 5x4, 5x6) and Jonny Bairstow (85 not out, 44 balls, 8x4, 6x6) produced an electrifying 177-run opening stand that silenced the home crowd. 

De Kock kickstarted the run chase with Bairstow content to play the supporting role initially. But the former England World Cup winner exploded into action when he took down Capitals captain Keshav Maharaj in the 12th over. 

Bairstow blasted Maharaj for 34 runs - the most expensive over in SA20 history - with the opener smashing five sixes and a boundary. 

The first maximum also brought up Bairstow’s half-century and he went into overdrive from there.

Earlier, the Pretoria Capitals promoted Connor Esterhuizen up the order for the first time in the competition and the Rising Star repaid the team management’s faith with a first half-century for his new franchise.

Esterhuizen initially assessed the conditions before exploding in the last over of the Powerplay when he struck Lutho Sipamla for back-to-back sixes. 

He then took on Sunrisers’ premier fast bowlers Anrich Nortje and Marco Jansen. The 24-year-old drove Nortje for successive fours through the covers before even going one better against Jansen with a hat-trick of boundaries.

But just after reaching his second career Betway SA20 milestone, Nortje struck back for the Sunrisers with a 147km/h cross-seam delivery that Esterhuizen 52 (33b 6x4 2x6) was only able to slice to Jordan Hermann in the deep.

This left the Capitals at 111/4 after Bryce Parsons (14), Shai Hope (5) and Wihan Lubbe (21) had all departed already. 

The stage was perfectly set for the Capitals big hitters Dewald Brevis, Sherfane Rutherford and new acquisition Andre ‘Dre’ Russell to unleash their firepower in the final 6.3 overs. 

But the Sunrisers’ maintained their discipline both with the ball and in the field. Matthew Breetzke took a good running catch in the deep to send Brevis on his way after Nortje out bumped the youngster before Quinton de Kock completed a stunning one-hander diving to his right to send the dangerous Russell on his way after he edged a Adam Milne slower ball. 

It was left to Rutherford to play a lone hand and the West Indian delivered yet another pyrotechnics show after his Newlands heroics on New Year’s Eve. 

Rutherford smashed four maximums and three boundaries in his 22-ball 47 with Milne in particular copping the most punishment as the New Zealander conceded 22 runs off the penultimate over. 

SCOREBOARD

Pretoria Capitals: 176/7 (Esterhuizen 52, Rutherford 47*, Nortje 3/32)

Sunrisers Eastern Cape: 177/0 (Bairstow 85*, De Kock 79*)

Sunrisers Eastern Cape won by 10 wickets