Sunrisers power into second Betway SA20 Final

Defending champions wait on Wanderers results to determine opponents in Final

Tuesday, 6 February 2024: Seamers, Ottniel Baartman and Marco Jansen powered the Sunrisers Eastern Cape to their second consecutive Betway SA20 final after a convincing 51-run victory over Durban’s Super Giants in the Qualifier 1 at Newlands on Tuesday.

The defending champions were superior in every facets, and will now spend the week in Cape Town in the build-up to Saturday’s Final .

Durban’s Super Giants will travel to Johannesburg, where they will meet the winner of Paarl Royals vs Joburg Super Kings in Qualifier 2 at the Wanderers on Thursday, for a second opportunity to advance to the final.

Opener Dawid Malan held the Sunrisers’ innings together with his second half century of the competition. The Englishman rediscovered his touch with 63 off 45 (6×4, 1×6) that formed the cornerstone of the Sunrisers’ 157/8, which was disrupted by a two-hour rain delay.

Captain, Aiden Markram, also contributed 30 off 23 balls, but the skipper’s dismissal set about a collapse that saw the defending champions lose five wickets for 29 runs.

Two rush outs, and some excellent death bowling from Junior Dala (2/35) provided DSG with momentum heading into their dash chase.

Sunrisers Eastern Cape were provided with the perfect start though with Marco Jansen (4/16) removing Tony de Zorzi in the second over. De Zorzi was the first of Jansen’s four scalps on the night.

But the game-changing over of the evening came when Baartman delivered a double-wicket maiden. The right-arm seamer has been consistent throughout the competition for the Sunrisers, with his 4/10 propelling him to the top of the Betway SA20 wicket-takers leaderboard.

His first wicket saw Matthew Breetzke top-edge a flyer to wicket-keeper Tristan Stubbs. The second was, however, due to brilliant piece of athleticism from Markram, with the skipper throwing out one hand whilst in the air to assist dismiss Jon Jon Smuts at mid-on.

The Super Giants still had the uncertain Quinton de Kock at the crease, but he too was sent back to the dugout courtesy of another fantastic caught and bowled from Liam Dawson. The left-arm spinner also had DSG’s top-scorer Wiaan Mulder (38) caught in the deep.

The Sunrisers, however, knew that whilst Heinrich Klaasen was still at the crease the Super Giants were always still in the hunt.

And that’s when Baartman held his nerve by having Klaasen (23 off 15 balls), caught behind just when the Proteas superstar was starting to warm up.

Klaasen’s dismissal signalled the pause of DSG’s challenge on the night, with Jansen running through the tail to ensure a smooth passage to the final for the Sunrisers.

Playoff and Final Dates

6 February – Qualifier 1 Newlands

Sunrisers Eastern Cape vs Durban’s Super Giants – Sunrisers won by 51 runs

7 February – Eliminator Wanderers

Paarl Royals vs Joburg Super Kings

8 February – Qualifier 2 Wanderers

Loser of Qualifier 1 vs Winner of Eliminator

10 February – Final Newlands

Winner of Qualifier 1 vs Winner of Qualifier 2

Additional Notes

• In the event of an interruption, in both the playoffs and final, there will be 120 minutes of extra time before overs are lost.
• There is no reserve day for the eliminator and qualifiers, if no result is achieved on the scheduled day, then the team that placed higher on final log standings will progress as the deemed winner.
• For the final – if no result can be achieved on original final day, play will resume on the reserve day from the position the game was in (no restart). Every efforts will be made to achieve a result on original day.

Source: cricket.co.za

Kevin Pietersen: With an HPI of 19.94, Kevin Pietersen is the 4th most famous South African Cricketer. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Kevin Peter Pietersen (born 27 June 1980) is an English cricket commentator, conservationist, and former England international captain. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who played in all three formats for England between 2005 and 2014, which included a brief tenure as captain. He won the Player of the Series award for his heroics in 2010 ICC World Twenty20 and for helping the England Cricket Team win their maiden ICC trophy. Pietersen was born to an Afrikaner father and English mother in South Africa. He made his first-class debut for Natal in 1997 and moved to England in 2000, after voicing his displeasure at what he said was the racial quota system in South African cricket. Being of English ancestry, Pietersen was eligible for the England team so long as he first served a four-year qualifying period in English county cricket. He was called up by England almost immediately after he completed four years with Nottinghamshire. He made his international debut in the One Day International (ODI) match against Zimbabwe in 2004 and his Test match debut in the 2005 Ashes series against Australia.Pietersen left Nottinghamshire for Hampshire in 2005, but the England team’s subsequent reliance on him resulted in Pietersen making only a single first-class appearance for his new county between 2005 and 2010. In June 2010, Pietersen announced his wish to leave Hampshire; he joined Surrey on loan for the remainder of the season, then moved permanently in 2011.Pietersen was captain of the England Test and ODI teams from 4 August 2008 to 7 January 2009, but resigned after just three Tests and nine ODIs following a dispute with the England coach Peter Moores, who was sacked the same day. Pietersen’s relationship with the ECB never fully recovered. This came to a head in 2012 when, after a disagreement over his schedule, Pietersen announced his retirement from all forms of international limited-overs cricket on 31 May. Although he later retracted his retirement, his relationship with both the ECB and his team-mates soured during the series against South Africa, and he was dropped for the final Test of that series. Pietersen last played for England in the 2013–14 Ashes and subsequent ODIs, after which he was informed that he was no longer being considered for international selection. He also played for the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League until the end of BBL|07 (seventh season), the Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League as well as the Hollywoodbets Dolphins in the CSA T20 Challenge. He was also signed by the Rising Pune Supergiants for the 2016 season of the Indian Premier League. Pietersen is one of the fastest batsman to reach 1,000 ODI runs and still holds the record for being the fastest player to cross 2,000 runs in One Day International cricket. He has the second-highest run total from his first 25 Tests, behind only Sir Don Bradman of Australia, and was the fastest player, in terms of days, to reach 4,000, 5,000 and 7,000 Test runs. He became only the third English batsman to top the ICC One Day International rankings, doing so in March 2007. In July 2008, after a century against South Africa, The Times called him “the most complete batsman in cricket” and in 2012 The Guardian called him “England’s greatest modern batsman”. On the occasion of England’s 1000th Test in August 2018, he was named in the country’s greatest Test XI by the ECB.