Sunrisers Eastern Cape clinch inaugural SA20 cup
Sunrisers Eastern Cape players celebrate with the SAT20 trophy after beating Pretoria Capitals in Sunday's final in Johannesburg
|| CF DESK ||
In the inaugural Betway SA20 at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Sunday, the Sunrisers Eastern Cape defeated the Pretoria Capitals by four wickets thanks to Adam Rossington's scorching half-century and player of the match Roelof van der Merwe's devastating spin.
The game, which was played on a reserve day due to heavy rain and a soggy outfield on Saturday, provided hours of fun for the 22010 spectators who came to see a fitting end to a hugely successful competition.
For most of the match, it seemed that the unheralded Sunrisers would win comfortably. With left-arm spinner Van der Merwe (4/31) and skipper Aiden Markram (1/17 in four overs) leading the way on a tacky pitch that took a lot of turn and encouraged bounce, the Capitals, having been put in to bat, were dismissed for a relatively meagre 135 in 19.3 overs.
Adam Rossington, the Sunrisers' opening batsman, followed that with a clinical display of aggressive batting, smashing four fours and five sixes.
After Temba Bavuma had left the game early after playing on via an ugly slog to Eathan Bosch, the big Englishman reached his fifty in just twenty balls, and he and Jordan Hermann added 67 in 32 balls for the second wicket.
The tone of the game was then altered by the entry of master legspinner Adil Rashid. In his four overs, Rashid only allowed 13 runs while repeatedly hitting the bat with his sharply turning deliveries. He removed Hermann with a googly that Phil Salt successfully stumped.
Anrich Nortje, the other Capitals bowler who could have won the game, caused additional tension for the Sunrisers by having Rossington caught by Salt, top-edging a bouncer, and then dismissing Tristan Stubbs for five. He and Van der Merwe were the competition's top two wicket-takers after finishing with 20 each.
Markram appeared to be in good shape for his 26 in 19 balls, but he also was caught at wide mid-on off Colin Ingram's occasional legspin. This was a shot he probably shouldn't have taken.
Despite being well ahead of the run-rate, the Sunrisers were feeling the pinch, particularly with the demise of Jordan Cox and Stubbs.
But just when the possibility of an outrageous win for the Capitals was being entertained, Marco Jansen entered the fray with the coolest of heads. Defending when necessary, he kept his powder dry until Rashid and Nortje were bowled out before driving the first two balls of Neesham’s 17th over for four and six, to seal victory.
The Capitals had a rock 'n' roll first powerplay earlier after being given the opportunity to bat.
Phil Salt hit the first delivery from Sisanda Magala through the covers for four runs, but the following ball, he holed out to midwicket. When the TV umpire got involved, he declared that Magala had hit a no ball. To put it mildly, it was a questionable choice.
Magala's over consequently went for 16 and the Capitals started off strong. Kusal Mendis was caught at mid-off by paceman Ottniel Baartman as the Sunrisers made a comeback, and the next ball, Van der Merwe bowled Salt with a delivery that was far too full to be played off the back foot.
Never one for caution, Rilee Rossouw reverse-swept and swept his first three balls from Van der Merwe for four, and when Theunis de Bruyn edged his final ball to the fence, 17 had been added off of his first breathless over.
However, wickets continued to fall in groups as Theunis de Bruyn was destroyed by a brilliant ball from Van der Merwe that pitched on his leg stump and knocked back his off and Rossouw drove on the up against paceman Ottniel Baartman, offering a simple catch to extra cover.
As Ingram and Neesham took care to prevent any further wickets from falling for a while, the Capitals were now forced to settle down and rebuild the innings. Before Ingram was bowled over by Markram's exquisite delivery, which pitched on middle-and-leg and knocked back the left-off hander's stump, the pair added 35 runs in 42 balls for the fifth wicket.
After that, things only got worse for the Pretoria team as they lost their final five wickets for 22 runs, despite excellent support from Magala and Baartman, who each took two wickets.
