Betway SA20 served up yet another nail-biting encounter on Sunday with Durban’s Super Giants edging home by two wickets over Sunrisers Eastern Cape at St George’s Park.
DSG’s victory with three balls to spare not only kept their playoff chances alive and kicking by moving past MI Cape Town into fifth place, but it has also created a bun fight at the top of the League table.
Only four points separate first-placed Sunrisers (19) and Paarl Royals (15) in fourth place, although the Royals have played one game less.
The Super Giants required Evan Jones to hold his nerve with the allrounder smashing Anrich Nortje for a boundary to set off the celebrations in the visiting dressing room.
The victory had all but looked secure when DSG blasted 71/1 in the Powerplay to eat a large chunk out of the Sunrisers’ 158/5.
Captain Aiden Markram enjoyed his promotion up the order and set the Super Giants on their way upon his return to St George’s Park for the first time. The former Sunrisers skipper silenced the Orange Army with a half dozen boundaries in his 13-ball 25 before he was brilliantly caught by Marco Jansen on the long-off boundary.
Opening partner Marques Ackerman maintained the momentum with 45 off 26 balls (6×4, 1×6) to leave DSG at 80/2 with only a further 79 required off just less than a run-a-ball.
But Sunrisers are renowned for their fighting spirit and clawed their way back by chipping away at the much-vaunted DSG middle-order through a brilliant spell of left-arm spin bowling from Senuran Muthusamy (2/20) and pace of Nortje and Jansen.
Sunil Narine, Heinrich Klaasen, Jos Buttler, David Bedingham and Liam Livingstone all fell to injudicious shots to leave DSG precariously placed at 137/7 after 17.2 overs.
It was left to tailender Gerald Coetzee (13 off 6 balls) to strike a crucial boundary in the penultimate over to revive DSG’s run chase, although he too fell on his sword to Adam Milne to set up the tense last over.
The Sunrisers’ innings was a stop-start affair with DSG’s Caribbean import Sunil Narine (1/24) dominating the first Powerplay. The former West Indies T20 World Cup winner showed his value with an excellent spell, which included a maiden, to restrict the Sunrisers upfront.
The home team were not able to get their innings forward until the arrival of captain Tristan Stubbs (47 not out off 30 balls (5×4,1×6).
The skipper assessed the conditions initially, managing just 11 of 18 balls, before the late onslaught with Lewis Gregory (25 not out off 17 balls) that saw the Sunrisers blast 53 runs in the final three overs. But unfortunately for the two-times champions that was not enough on the day with DSG taking the spoils to reignite their Betway SA20 Season 4 campaign.
