Matthew Breetzke produced his best innings of the competition this season to steer the Sunrisers Eastern Cape to a tense seven-wicket victory over MI Cape Town in their Betway SA20 cricket match at a packed St George’s Park in Gqeberha on Sunday.
Though they had plenty of wickets left at the end after restricting Cape Town to 148/6, the home team kept their fans on the edge right until the finish, reaching 149/3 with just one ball remaining.
Breetzke, with a composed 66 off 55 balls (eight fours), and Quinton de Kock (56 off 49 balls with six fours and two sixes) were the home team heroes during a second-wicket stand of 109 off 15 overs.
But there was still some work to do for victory to be achieved when De Kock was dismissed off the first ball of the 18th over, with 25 runs still needed.
There were some crucial blows in the penultimate over bowled by Kagiso Rabada when Jordan Hermann smashed a six over long-on and Breetzke hit the last ball for four.
That left the Sunrisers wanting five runs to win off the final over, and despite Breetzke being dismissed with two runs needed, skipper Tristan Stubbs and Hermann got them over the line.
The result was significant for the Sunrisers because it meant they ended in the top two on the log, giving them a second chance at qualifying for the final if they lose their first playoff match.
The final positions will be decided when the Paarl Royals and Joburg Super Kings square off in the last round-robin match in Paarl on Monday.
The Sunrisers, however, are due to play their qualification match in Durban on Wednesday against opponents still to be confirmed.
After being sent in to bat, Cape Town’s Reeza Hendricks, playing with urgency from the outset, produced another superb knock to hold the innings together, finishing unbeaten on 70 from 44 balls, with eight fours and a six.
The right-hander had been a major figure in Cape Town’s win between the two sides on Friday night, and on Sunday, he showed his intent early on by helping to take 19 off the first over bowled by left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy.
Despite having their bowling plans disrupted with what seemed like a hamstring injury to opening bowler Adam Milne after only three balls of the second over, the Sunrisers were able to recover well through some rarely seen spinners.
Firstly, skipper Stubbs took over to complete Milne’s over and was convinced he had Ryan Rickleton lbw off the first ball he sent down.
But the review showed it missing the leg stump by inches.
After those three deliveries, Stubbs sent down two more overs and conceded only 11 runs.
Then Australian offspinner Chris Green, who came into the squad in place of Sri Lankan spinner Tharindu Rathnayake, made an immediate impact after replacing Lewis Gregory in the team for Sunday.
In his debut match, he was only collared by George Linde in his final over when sixes were struck off the first three balls.
But he had the final say when Stubbs took a magnificent catch on the long-on boundary off the fourth delivery.
Green finished with 3/29 from his four overs, and James Coles was equally effective among the slow bowlers, with 1/17 in three overs.
It helped the Sunrisers keep the Cape Town run rate in check despite the efforts of Hendricks, Linde (30 off 17 balls with four sixes) and Jason Smith.
The Herald
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