Sunrisers just ‘kept it simple’
MARKRAM: STUCK TO BASICS AND STAYED IN THE NOW
While he admitted they had to work hard for it, captain Aiden Markram said the Sunrisers Eastern Cape had successfully defended their SA20 title by keeping things simple in the latter stages of a hard-fought campaign.
Batting first in the final against Durban’s Super Giants in Cape Town on Saturday, the defending champions racked up 204/4 in their 20 overs, thanks to a solid all-round contribution from their top order.
In response, all-rounder Marco Jansen took 5/30 as the Super Giants were bundled out for just 115 runs with three overs left in their innings, with the Sunrisers wrapping up a convincing 89-run victory to retain their crown.
The Eastern Cape side ran rampant in the second half of the season, winning their last six matches on the trot, and Markram felt they had got the best out of themselves by sticking to the basics and not looking too far ahead.
“We took it a game at a time and always believed in the players in our change room, and we kept things quite simple,” the skipper said.
“Out on the field you fight like crazy to scrap for every little ball, save every run, dive for every catch, commit to every ball as a bowler, and after that it’s just cricket at the end of the day, so that’s the sort of space we were in.”
Having performed consistently well throughout the competition, Super Giants coach Lance
Klusener admitted his team were frustrated after stumbling at the final hurdle, but he conceded that they were out-played in the trophy contest.
“I thought they executed really well, which we didn’t. In a final you need to pitch up and execute, so all credit to them,” Klusener said.
“It was high risk, but they’ve got a couple of batters who played really well, so well done to them.”
Super Giants batter Heinrich Klaasen was named Player-of-the-Season and Batter-of-the-Season after scoring 437 runs at an average of 40.63 (strike rate 207.90).
Sunrisers bowler Ottniel Baartman, who took 18 wickets in eight innings (average 11.77), was named Bowler-of the Season, and his team-mate Jansen was recognised as Rising-Star-of-the Season.