Sunrisers Eastern Cape will look to absorb the lessons from a comprehensive defeat against Pretoria Capitals earlier in the week as they prepare for another opportunity against the Paarl Royals on Friday to reach the Betway SA20 cricket final.
That was the assessment of batting coach Russell Domingo after Sunrisers went down by seven wickets with nine balls remaining in the first qualifier, having set the Capitals a target of 171.
A standout all-round performance from Bryce Parsons (60 and 3/10), combined with some sensational hitting from Dewald Brevis, who struck seven sixes in an unbeaten 75, saw the Pretoria side book their place in Sunday’s final in Cape Town.
Sunrisers will now travel to Johannesburg for a second bite at the cherry, where they will face the Paarl Royals, who beat the Joburg Super Kings in the eliminator at SuperSport Park on Thursday.
For Domingo, the result underlined the importance of finishing in the top two at the end of the round-robin phase, with Sunrisers having topped the log on 28 points.
“It is critical to finish first or second because it gives you another chance,” he said. We now have to dust ourselves off and take the lessons from this performance.
“It’s never easy to put together a perfect campaign. We just need to move forward and place all our focus on Friday’s game.”
Despite the defeat, Domingo does not anticipate major changes to the team’s approach.
“There’s not too much to do,” he said. “We know where we came up short, both as players and coaches. There are one or two areas we can improve on, but nothing drastic.
“We’re a quality side, and most of the games we’ve lost have gone down to the last over. It’s more about a bit of tinkering here and there.”
Domingo felt Sunrisers left runs on the table after being well placed in their innings.
“We were in a great position at 128/2 but maybe didn’t finish as well as we would have liked in the last six overs.
“We were probably closer to 200 at one stage and fell away a bit. There are good lessons in how to go about it in these conditions.”
He also acknowledged the decisive partnership between Brevis and Parsons after they added 91 runs in 10 overs for the third wicket.
“Dewald is an incredible player, and he hit some unbelievable shots. His partnership with Bryce really took the game away from us.”
While conditions appeared to ease slightly later in the evening, Domingo did not believe that was a major factor.
“I don’t think the pitch changed too much. Because we got into such a good position, we went on the attack a bit earlier than planned, thinking we needed a strong score against a very good batting line-up.”
Looking at the bigger picture, Domingo also praised the depth and competitiveness of the tournament.
“It’s been fantastic to see players like Bryce Parsons and Gideon Peters come through, and to have so many international players and coaches involved. That exposure helps South African cricket enormously.
“This competition shows how tough it is. You can bowl a team out for 49 one day, such as we did against Paarl Royals, and they still ended up qualifying for the playoffs.
“On any given day, anyone can beat anyone, and we have to keep improving.”
With back-to-back knockout matches now ahead for the Super Kings and Royals, Domingo believes the challenge can work in their favour.
“It’s tough to play two big games in a row, so that can also work for us,” he said.
“Our senior and experienced players know where they can be better, and that’s what we’ll focus on going into Friday.”
TimesLIVE
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