Aiden Markram (2 for 8 & 50 of 35) made it to Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the first season of SA20 to secure a 4-wicket victory over MI Cape Town at Gqeberha on Monday (16 January). I took the lead from the front when I broke the duck. George Linde’s late break on his undefeated 63/28 went wide as the SEC middle class secured the win.
MI was asked to go first, and early on Ottoniel Bartmann and Sisanda Magala clashed on his PowerPlay, and in five overs he staggered the batting side 2-for-30. After a power play, as they tried to revive the innings, Mark Lamb came in to set up the break again. With back-to-back overs, he took out two batsmen, Dewald Brevis and Sam Curran, who had the ability to take momentum away from the bowling side even from such a position. However, Brevis struggled with runs, eventually holed up trying to break the bond and fell on 15 of the unforgettable 28 balls. Karan tried to interrupt the not-so-short delivery, eventually losing just eight to the keeper’s nod.
At 4 for 52, MI looked like a small total, but Linde and Lassie van der Düssen made the rescue on the fifth wicket as he took a tally of 59 runs. Despite Magala breaking the stands, Linde went on to win for half a century, taking the team past the 150-run mark.
MI would have thought that on aggregate they would have had enough to take their third win of the season as Curran cut the pursuit side to 9-2 with 3 overs, but the SEC’s middle order scored the team’s first points I came to the party to tournament. Sarel Erwee and Markram scored 92 runs on the third wicket to win by just 58 balls. Rashid Khan and Odean Smith pulled things back with back-to-back wickets for MI as the SEC fell from 2-101 to 4-107 with both Erwee and Markram losing.
However, the very impressive Tristan Stubbs stepped in to bring the game back to his team. SEC he needed 30 from 3 overs and Stubbs cut from 2 to 18, ending a fruitful overs for the batting side against Smith in the Big 6. He then cleverly dealt with Curran and in 13 run overs he beat him with two fours, reducing the equation to 5 out of 6 balls. Smith dismissed Stubbs, but James Fuller got out and hit four in a row to end the chase.
Brief Scores: MI Cape Town 158/8 in 20 overs (George Linde 63*, Rassie van der Dussen 29; Ottniel Baartman 3-45, Aiden Markram 2-8, Sisanda Magala 2-22) lost to Sunrisers Eastern Cape 162/6 in 19.3 overs (Aiden Markram 50, Sarel Erwee 41, Tristan Stubbs 30; Odean Smith 3-23) by 4 wickets