Ongama Gcwabe at SuperSport Park
CENTURION: Defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape continued their poor start to the SA20, going down by six wickets to the Pretoria Capitals at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Tuesday, recording their third consecutive loss in six days.
The Aiden Markram-led side may lean on how they have been slow starters in the two seasons gone by – in which they failed to win their opening two matches, but still went on to win both campaigns.
However, this season, they have serious problems.
Having been bowled out for 77 at home last week, they were rolled over for 113 in Centurion on Tuesday.
To their defence, the Capitals did win a crucial toss, one they used well in asking the Sunrisers to bat first, looking to exploit all the moisture on the wicket following the persistent rain in the highveld since the start of the year.
“We would’ve (liked to win the toss),” Markram said after the match.
“Still, we would have liked to think that we are a better outfit than that, so we’re definitely not going to blame it on the toss.
“We still think there’s a big room for improvement with the bat to set up the game.”
The visitors lost three wickets in the opening two overs, losing openers Zak Crawley (1) and David Bedingham (2), and the skipper himself Markram (0) cheaply.
By the end of the first powerplay, the Capitals had the visitors four wickets down with only 24 runs on the board as Daryn Dupavillon (3/32), Eathan Bosch (2/18) and Migael Pretorius (1/21) made light work of the struggling Sunrisers batting line-up.
Spinner Senuran Muthusamy (2/29), bowling in tandem with former New Zealand all-rounder Jimmy Neesham (2/11), broke the back of the visitors’ batting line-up, bowling them out for 113 inside 20 overs.
“It’s probably a case of the way the T20 circuit works. Games come fast, and if you have players in form, they run away with it and guys shine,” Markram gave as a probable reason for their poor start.
“But when you’re trying to look for form and games keep coming every second and third day, it can be quite tough.
“But there’s some great players there, guys that we back to get the job done.
“I’m not a big fan of issuing directives and telling guys how to play.
“Each guy plays so differently nowadays, and you just want to encourage them to be the best versions of themselves.”
Despite the low scores from the rest of the batting line-up, Marco Jansen’s innings of 51 off 34 balls – a knock which saw the right-handed batter strike four fours and three sixes – looked as though he was batting on a totally different wicket.
The 24-year-old’s timing was crisp and his long levers worked wonders for him, as he was able to access deliveries that were not necessarily full and dispatch them over the long-off boundary.
Though the visiting bowling unit attempted to make a contest out of the 114-run target, it was just not enough as the Capitals chased the target with 24 balls to spare, recording a bonus-point victory in the process.
The Capitals did have several scares in their chase, as they lost the wickets of Rahmanullah Gurbaz (7), Kyle Verreynne (12), Will Jacks (27) and Rilee Rossouw (12) with 53 runs left to get and 11 overs remaining.
Visiting quicks Richard Gleeson (2/31), Ottneil Baartman (1/9) and Craig Overton (1/33) put on a proper shift.
However, an unbeaten 54-run stand between Marques Ackerman (39 not out, 2x4, 2x6) and Liam Livingstone (14 not, 1x4) saw the Capitals get over the line with relative ease.
Markram lauded the effort from his fast bowlers, and emphasised the belief they have in being able to use their remaining seven fixtures to sneak into the knockout stages of the tournament, and potentially successfully defend their trophy.
“We saw some really good stuff with the ball, I believe, from the bowlers,” said Markram.
“It’s not all doom and gloom just yet. We’ll never throw the towel in. Hopefully, we can start playing good cricket and then getting some results.”
The Sunrisers Eastern Cape will get back to action on Friday evening when they travel to Durban to take on the Super Giants at Kingsmead (5.30pm start). | Independent Media Sport
Brief Scores
Sunrisers Eastern Cape 113 all out (Marco Jansen 51; Daryn Dupavillon 3/32)
Pretoria Capitals 115/4 (Marques Ackerman 39 not out; Richard Gleeson 2/31)
Pretoria Capitals won by six wickets with 24 balls to spare (bonus-point victory)