Rain has final say in SA20 opener between Sunrisers EC and Super Kings in Gqeberha

Persistent showers over St George’s Park saw the opening match of the SA20 between the defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape and the Joburg Super Kings called off without a ball being bowled on Wednesday evening. 

The fixture was scheduled to start at 5:30pm but scattered rain fell in Gqeberha for most of the day and the 5pm toss was delayed. 

Despite this, hopeful cricket fanatics poured into the stadium in their numbers while the band had the crowd dancing to their tunes until the game was eventually abandoned. 

There was a bit of movement as the ground staff began to remove the covers while the players began their warm-up routines but the match was eventually called off shortly after 8pm. 

The Joburg Super Kings return home to take on MI Cape Town for their first home game on Saturday while the Sunrisers Eastern Cape will host the Durban Super Giants in the late game in Gqeberha on the same day. 

Meanwhile, former Gqeberha cricketer Simon Harmer will have to wait a little longer to return to action in the place he once called home. 

The Sunrisers, who will be without the talismanic Roelof van der Merwe in season 2 of the tournament, saw coach Adrian Birrell strategically fill the gap in bringing Harmer back to the Eastern Cape. 

The wily off-spinner is an equally fierce competitor and will provide a hard edge to the Sunrisers. 

Harmer was part of the first trade of the league with Jon-Jon Smuts moving in the opposite direction to Durban’s Super Giants. 

“This is where my cricketing journey started as a 19-year-old moving down to Port Elizabeth from Pretoria. Gqeberha will always have a special place in my heart, playing in front of the band here, the stadium, the people, the friendly city, very easy-going.

"It’s somewhere that I’ve always enjoyed playing and that I love,” Harmer said. 

“Seeing the star above the badge, I want to be a contributor to that. It’s very exciting being the defending champions but the biggest thing for us is looking to win the trophy this year and not looking to defend our title. 

"Looking from the outside last year and being involved this year, one thing the Sunrisers have in their corner is a bunch of good people, obviously with exceptional skills. 

"I’m a very competitive person. I’m going to look to be true to myself and bring that competitive edge."