The Sunrisers Eastern Cape will hope to bring smiles to the faces of the Orange Army again when they host the Pretoria Capitals at St George’s Park in Gqeberha.
The defending champions have hit form over the last two matches to move up the table into the playoff positions after losing their three opening games.
The atmosphere inside St George’s Park was electric in the last match and captain Aiden Markram is hoping they can count on the support of their “12th man” again on Wednesday.
“They are unbelievable. Even chatting to Kane Williamson after the match [on Sunday], he said he has never experienced an atmosphere like that,” Markram said.
“It’s really loud in their own kind of PE Orange Army way. It definitely pumps you up, because they get behind you, especially when you get ahead of the game and they carry you through little moments of the game.
“It’s really special to have them coming out and continuing to support us even after the dodgy start we’ve had to the tournament.”
Markram, who is the only SA20 skipper to hold aloft the championship trophy, believes his team’s turnaround is due to the top-order batters starting to find some form.
“With the bat, we’ve been getting off to much better starts, the guys in the power play have been very good for us and we’ve been doing similar things with the ball as well,” he said.
“We’ve been managing to get in front of the game, whether batting or bowling earlier on and that helps a lot in T20 cricket.”
The Capitals, meanwhile, are hoping to do the double over the Sunrisers after beating the champions at Centurion. However, that remains their only victory and captain Rilee Rossouw is hoping to lean on his senior players to restart their season.
“We’ve a lot of experience, these guys have cricket brains to whom I can turn and get some advice,” Rossouw said.
Fans have an extra incentive to attend the match on Wednesday with tickets for the match at St George’s Park being discounted by 50%.
Kamikaze Granny
Although the New Zealand All Blacks are considered one of the best rugby teams in history, it is the USA that holds the title of reigning Olympic champions in rugby. The United States won the gold medal for rugby in the 1924 Olympics, and the sport has not been played in the Olympics since.
Manly Reno
Sport Trivia: Who was South Africa\’s first Olympic Gold Medal winner? Answer: Reginald Walker. Reginald Walker was born in 1889 in Natal and in 1907 was the South African 100m champion. He battled with finances to get to London for the 1908 Summer Olympics but once he was there he managed, very unexpectedly to all those competing, to beat the field and walk off with the Gold for the 100m. As at 2005 Reggie Walker was still the youngest winner of the 100m Olympic Gold Medal.