Sunrisers reach SA20 final
● Eastern Cape side down Super Giants in Qualifier 1 at Newlands
Four wickets by Ottniel Baartman was enough to seal a second consecutive final berth for the Sunrisers Eastern Cape when they beat Durban’s Super Giants by 51 runs in Qualifier 1 of the Betway SA20 playoffs in Cape Town yesterday.
Baartman, whose performance earned him the playerof-the-match award, claimed four wickets for just 10 runs in his four overs as DSG were all out for 106 and SEC booked their spot in Saturday’s final at the same venue.
Restricting SEC to 157/8, DSG’s run chase got off to a stuttering start as they lost Tony de Zorzi (2) as Marco Jansen made the early breakthrough.
Baartman removed Matthew Breetzke (3) before a stunning one-handed grab by SEC skipper Aiden Markram sent Jon-Jon Smuts back to the dugout for a duck as DSG slipped to 13/3, eventually ending the power play on 18/3.
Quinton de Kock and Wiaan Mulder took the Durban side past 50 with two boundaries in the 11th over by Liam Dawson.
However, the left-arm orthodox spinner held onto a sharp chance to remove the left-hander before removing Mulder (38), as DSG slipped to 81/5.
Needing 62 runs from 24 balls, Baartman took the crucial wicket of Heinrich Klaasen before Jansen removed Keshav Maharaj (1) and Dwaine Pretorius (7) in the 18th over, as DSG were bowled out for 106 with three balls to spare.
Alongside Baarman’s heroics, Jansen also grabbed 4/17 from 3.3 overs while Dawson took 2.37 from his four overs.
Winning the toss and choosing to bat first, the Sunrisers played cautiously to make their way to 45 without loss after the power play.
Jordan Hermann hit 21 runs from 19 balls before he fell to Maharaj, seemingly edging the ball to wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock with a review by the DSG skipper confirming the edge.
Dawid Malan (34) and Tom Abell (2) were unbeaten at the crease when rain forced the umpires to take the players off the field at 6.15pm, with the men in orange sitting on 61/1 after 8.2 overs.
When play resumed an hour and 55 minutes later, no overs were lost because the length of the stoppage had not exceeded two hours.
The Sunrisers lost Abell without adding to his score as Maharaj conceded just four runs from the ninth over, which was split down the middle by the rain delay.
Reaching the halfway mark on 73, Markram joined Malan in the middle, and the duo took the attack to the DSG bowlers as Malan registered his second half-century of the tournament.
The left-hander hit a boundary and a six to take the Orange Army past 100 in the 13th over that went for 15 runs.
However, their 49-run, third-wicket partnership was broken when Malan fell to Pretorius for a well-played 63 from 45 balls including six boundaries and a six.
The men in orange lost three quick wickets when Markram fell for 30 off Naveen ul Haq, before Tristan Stubbs (14) and Jansen (2) both fell to
Junior Dala in the 18th over as they slipped to 136/6.
SEC scored just 18 runs in the final two overs, losing the wickets of Patrick Kruger (11) and Simon Harmer (0), both run out as Dawson finished unbeaten on nine runs.
Maharaj and Dala recorded figures of 3/30 and 3/35 respectively, while Pretorius and Ul Haq took one wicket apiece.