Markam’s imperious 100 off 58 balls pushes Sunrisers to SA20 final

The points of order delivered at SuperSport Park on Thursday came off the bats of two of the country’s most talented batters.

Ultimately it was Aiden Markam’s maiden century in the T20 format that triumphed over Reeza Hendricks’ smooth elegance to deliver the Sunrisers Eastern Cape a berth in Saturday’s Betway SA20 final where they will face the Pretoria Capitals.

Markram’s 100 off 58 balls mixed power, style and no small amount of fortitude to dig his team out of a precarious situation after they’d been put in to bat by Faf du Plessis.

The Joburg Super Kings captain’s decision looked justified when Lizaad Williams picked up the wickets of Temba Bavuma and Adam Rossington in the second over.

Markram, in partnership with 21-year-old Jordan Hermann, set about stabilising the innings, cleverly running between the wickets and taking advantage of regular bad balls dished up by the Super Kings attack. In fact their bowling would get progressively worse through the innings, culminating in an awful last over in which Gerald Coetzee conceded 27 runs, which included a couple of no balls. JSK coach Stephen Fleming was understandably furious.

Earlier, Markram delivered some muscular blows as he and Hermann, who played with plenty of flair for his 48, shared a stand of 99 for the third wicket. It provided stability from which they then built what turned into a winning total.

After Hermann was run out, Markram dominated a 75-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Tristan Stubbs as his side exceeded 200, which looked some way off when they were 10/2. Markram launched a spectacular lofted drive over extra cover for six to go to his century, a landmark celebrated with a crushing hug from Stubbs and vein-popping air-punching from Markram.

As if a form of punishment for Coetzee, after that last over he was sent in to open the batting as a “pinch-hitter”, but the Super Kings’ plans went awry immediately when the in-form Du Plessis was caught at deep midwicket off the first ball of the innings.

They kept in touch with the scoring rate thanks to Hendricks, who drove the ball with a silky touch to make 96 off 54 balls. Unlike Markram, however, Hendricks couldn’t forge any partnerships until it was too late.

Roelof van der Merwe again delivered a performance of controlled fury with the ball claiming 2/23, his dismissal of Matthew Wade particularly timely.

Hendricks — smashing a couple of sixes into the swimming pool — and Romario Shepherd added 61 at blistering speed towards the end, which kept the Super Kings’ hopes alive. They needed 26 off the last over, but unlike Coetzee earlier, Ottneil Baartman kept his composure and saw his side to a 14-run victory.