Baartman has DSG in a tangle to send Sunrisers back to SA20 final

Four wickets by Ottniel Baartman were enough to seal a second consecutive final berth for the Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SEC) when they beat Durban’s Super Giants (DSG) by 51 runs in Qualifier 1 of the SA20 playoffs at Newlands on Tuesday.

Baartman, whose performance earned him the player-of-the-match award, claimed four wickets for only 10 runs in his four overs as DSG were all out for 106 and SEC booked their spot in Saturday’s final at the same venue. 

Restricting SEC to 157/8, DSG’s run chase got off to a stuttering start as they lost Tony de Zorzi (2) and Marco Jansen made the early breakthrough. 

Baartman removed Matthew Breetzke (3) before a stunning one-handed grab by SEC skipper Aiden Markram sent Jon Jon Smuts back to the dugout for a duck as DSG slipped to 13/3, eventually ending the power play on 18/3. 

Quinton de Kock and Wiaan Mulder took the Durban side past 50 with two boundaries in the 11th over by Liam Dawson. 

However, the left-arm orthodox spinner held on to a sharp chance to remove De Kock before dismissing Mulder (38) as DSG slipped to 81/5.

Needing 62 runs from 24 balls, Baartman took the crucial wicket of Heinrich Klaasen before Jansen removed Keshav Maharaj (1) and Dwaine Pretorius (7) in the 18th over as DSG were bowled out for 106 with three balls to spare. 

Alongside Baartman’s heroics, Jansen also grabbed 4/17 from 3.3 overs while Dawson took 2.37 from his four overs. 

Winning the toss and choosing to bat first, the Sunrisers played cautiously to make their way to 45 without loss after the power play. 

Jordan Hermann hit 21 runs from 19 balls before he fell to Maharaj, seemingly edging the ball to wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, with a review by the DSG skipper confirming the edge. 

Dawid Malan (34) and Tom Abell (2) were unbeaten at the crease when rain forced the umpires to take the players off the field at 6.15pm, with the men in orange sitting on 61/1 after 8.2 overs.

When play resumed an hour and 55 minutes later, no overs were lost because the length of the stoppage had not exceeded two hours. 

The Sunrisers lost Abell without adding to his score as Maharaj conceded only four runs from the ninth over, which was split down the middle by the rain delay.

Reaching the halfway mark on 73, Markram joined Malan in the middle, and the duo took the attack to the DSG bowlers as the latter registered his second half-century of the tournament. 

The left-hander hit a boundary and a six to take the Orange Army past 100 in a 13th over that went for 15 runs. 

However, their 49-run third-wicket partnership was broken when Malan fell to Pretorius for a well-played 63 from 45 balls, including six boundaries and a six. 

Sunrisers lost three quick wickets when Markram fell for 30 off Naveen-ul-Haq before Tristan Stubbs (14) and Jansen (2) both succumbed to Junior Dala in the 18th over as they slipped to 136/6. 

SEC scored only 18 runs in the final two overs, losing the wickets of Patrick Kruger (11) and Simon Harmer (0), both run out as Dawson finished unbeaten on nine runs. 

Maharaj and Dala recorded figures of 3/30 and 3/35 respectively, while Pretorius and ul-Haq took one wicket apiece.