Sunrisers must execute skills better: Birrell after opening SA20 thumping

Sunrisers Eastern Cape must improve their skill execution, head coach Adrian Birrell said after a humbling 97-run defeat to MI Cape Town in their Betway SA20 opener at St George’s Park in Gqeberha on Thursday.

After being put in to bat, Dewald Brevis struck 57 from 29 balls including six sixes and two fours, sharing 67 runs with Colin Ingram before Delano Potgieter (25 not out) and George Linde (23 not out) shared an unbeaten stand of 42 to help MICT to an above-par 174 for seven.

With 175 runs to defend, the MICT seam bowlers did the bulk of the work, as Delano Potgieter returned exceptional figures of five for 10 from three overs while Trent Boult claimed 3/16. The hosts were bundled out for a measly 77 inside 15 overs to hand the visitors a bonus-point victory.

Asked if thoughts of a treble of titles played a part in their batting collapse and ultimately the defeat, Birrell said their first two titles, albeit special moments, were not at the forefront of their minds.

“We’ve spoken about winning it twice, but that is history. We have talked hard about it, but I don’t think that played a role,” Birrell said.

“I take a little bit of confidence in that my teams have never won a first game, be it here [in SA] or overseas, there is just something about us and slow starts.

“So we are not mindful about that, we are mindful about how to execute our skills well. We were not good today [Thursday] and I think it is a wake-up call that we need to be better in the games to come,” he said.

Losing wickets in clusters is never a good thing and there were two such instances for the home side, first when they lost three wickets for just two runs between overs three and four, and then losing a further four wickets for two runs between overs 10 and 11.

“I think it was a mixture of both [mental lapses and good bowling] that resulted in the loss.

“You never want to lose two wickets consecutively, we lost three in succession and then another four, by which time the game was done. It is challenging to get back into the game from that point, so it was quite disappointing,” Birrell said.

A few key players did not make the starting XI and Birrell said the likes of Liam Dawson got the nod ahead of Roelof van der Merwe due to his abilities with the bat while Ottniel Baartman and Patrick Kruger are nursing minor issues and should be back in contention for the next game or two.

They will need all hands on deck for the next few matches because in a whirlwind tournament, a team’s net run rate can be decisive more often than not and the Sunrisers will have to drastically improve theirs which now stands at -4.850.

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