Jansen and Stubbs steer Sunrisers home to third win in a row in Paarl

An unbeaten 38-run partnership between Marco Jansen and Tristan Stubbs ensured the Sunrisers Eastern Cape claimed a five-wicket victory over the Paarl Royals in their SA20 fixture in Paarl on Thursday.

Jansen (21) and Stubbs (17) shared a gutsy unbeaten sixth-wicket partnership to secure a third victory in four days for the Gqeberha team to move into second place in the standings on 12 points, one point behind the Pretoria Capitals.

This after the Paarl side could register only 127-7 in their 20 overs, as Wihan Lubbe top-scored with 28 while Corbyn Bosch (20) was the only other Royals batsman to shape.

Chasing 128 for victory, the Orange Army played at a frenetic pace, racing to 52-2 in the first six overs.

Adam Rossington and Jordan Hermann put on 35 for the first wicket before Lungi Ngidi found the edge of his bat, with the ball cannoning back onto the stumps.

The Proteas seamer then removed Sarel Erwee with the next ball, a slower delivery disturbing his wicket.

Hermann and Aiden Markram steadied the ship, taking their partnership to 57 off 50 deliveries before Bjorn Fortuin set the opposition pulses racing.

The left-arm spinner took three wickets in the 13th over when he removed Markram for 23, before sending Hermann packing for 43 a ball later.

He had Jordan Cox out for a duck with the next delivery and then trapped lower-order hero Jansen leg before wicket. But, the decision was reviewed and overturned after umpire Adboellah Steenkamp had originally given him out.

It was a period where the Sunrisers were made to sweat, scoring just five runs and losing three wickets in three overs before Jansen and Stubbs combined to take their side home with 10 balls remaining in their innings.

Fortuin finished with 3-20 from four overs while Ngidi claimed 2-31.

After winning the toss for a fifth consecutive match, Markram, as he has done throughout the tournament, asked the home side to make first use of the Boland Park surface.

The Royals found the going tough, losing wickets at regular intervals.

English duo Jos Buttler (12) and Jason Roy (5) fell early in the piece, dismissed by Sisanda Magala and  Markram respectively.

Lubbe and Corbyn Bosch combined to take the score past 50 before the left-hander had his stumps rattled by right-arm quick Brydon Carse.

The England international speedster then claimed his second when he sent Eoin Morgan back to the dugout for two, with skipper David Miller following soon after, caught by Jordan Cox off Roelof van der Merwe for 10, with 81 on the board and five wickets down.

They lost their last five wickets for 46 runs in an innings that had only seven fours and one six.

Markram and Van der Merwe shared four wickets for 42 runs from eight overs, Carse claimed 2-29 from his four overs, while Magala was superb in taking 1-15 in his quota.