Tristan Stubbs and Aiden Markram starred with the bat for the Sunrisers Eastern Cape to help them claim a tight four-wicket win with three balls to spare over the Mumbai Indians Cape Town in their SA20 match at St George’s Park in Gqeberha on Monday night.
Stubbs cracked a match winning 30 off 18 balls, slamming two fours and a six, as he shared in a vitally important 45-run sixth wicket partnership with Marco Jansen, 16no off 17 balls (1×6), to get them to the cusp.
Earlier in the innings Markram, 50 off 35 balls (7×4) had set up the chase with a superb 92-run third-wicket stand with Sarel Erwee, 41 off 35 (3×4; 2×6).
The Sunrisers’ innings got off to a dreadful start as MI CT bowler Sam Curran had English top-order batter Adam Rossington, in his first game of the tournament, caught for a golden duck, before trapping Jon Jon Smuts (8) LBW with them on 9
This brought Markram in to join Erwee and they set about rebuilding the innings steadily, before Erwee, who had struggled up to that point, took aim at Olly Stone’s first over, the last of the powerplay, crunching a six and two fours as 16 came off it and the Sunrisers on 49/2.
The pair continued ticking the runs over, before Stone was brought back for his second over, the 11th of the innings, with both batters contributing as 15 came off it.
The 12th over bowled by George Linde went for 12 runs, which also brought up the Sunrisers’ hundred, and they were well on course for the win needing 58 off 48 balls.
However, Rashid Khan then made the major breakthrough, trapping Erwee LBW in the 13th, before a massive 14th over from Odean Smith saw him have Markram caught in the deep having just brought up his half century, and then removed Jordan Cox (1) as the Sunrisers suddenly slipped to 109/5.
Stubbs and Jansen then took centre stage, as they kept the scoreboard ticking, keeping the Sunrisers in the chase until targeting the 18th and 19th overs from Smith and Curran, cracking 25 runs off them to leave them needing five off the last over.
There was one more twist in the tale as Stubbs edged the first ball of the final over from Smith behind to the keeper, but new man James Fuller (8no) held his nerve to crack the next two balls to the boundary to get them home in style.
CAREER BEST T20 SCORE FOR LINDE
At the start of play the Sunrisers won the toss and chose to field, with a career best T20 score from Linde helping MI CT post a slightly below par 158/8 in their 20 overs.
It was a decent all-round bowling performance from the home side, but they weren’t able to stop the charge of Linde who hammered his way to an unbeaten 63 off just 28 deliveries, crunching four boundaries and five maximums along the way.
He shared in an important 59-run fifth-wicket stand off 33 balls with Rassie van der Dussen, 29 off 22 (4×4; 1×6), that helped dig them out of an early spot of bother.
Sisanda Magala was the pick of the Sunrisers’ bowlers picking up 2-22 in his four overs, while Ottneil Baartman was a touch expensive but claimed 3-45 off his allotment.
MI CT’s innings got off to a very slow start as the top order struggled to get the ball away, which led to wickets.
Ryan Rickleton (7), Grant Roelofsen (8) and Dewald Brevis (15) were all caught trying to play pressure-relieving shots off the bowling of Magala, Baartman and Markram respectively as they slipped to 45/3 in the eighth over.
That then became 52/4 in the 10th when Curran (8) pushed at a ball too close to his body and edged behind to the keeper to become Markram’s second wicket.
This brought Linde to the crease to join Van Der Dussen and they set about batting MI CT back into the match.
They took aim at the 11th over bowled by Roelof van der Merwe and the13th from James Fuller as 11 runs came off both, before Baartman disappeared for 14 in the 14th over.
The 15th over, bowled by Fuller, was the biggest of the innings as Van Der Dussen got in on the action with a six over deep midwicket and a four through backward point, before Linde launched the last ball over deep square leg for six as 17 came off it.
Magala returned for the 16th over and made the vital breakthrough, with a perfect yorker trapping Van Der Dussen in front, to reduce MI CT to 111/5.
Smith (10), Delano Potgieter (8) and Khan (5) didn’t really trouble the scorers, but they stuck around enough allowing Linde to keep cracking the ball to all areas of the ground to get them to a total that didn’t prove enough.
SUNRISERS EASTERN CAPE: Sarel Erwee, Jon-Jon Smuts, Jordan Cox (wk), Aiden Markram (c), Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, James Fuller, Roelof van der Merwe, Sisanda Magala, Ottniel Baartman, Adam Rossington
MUMBAI INDIANS CAPE TOWN:Dewald Brevis, Ryan Rickleton, Sam Curran, Rassie van der Dussen, Grant Roelfsen (wk), Delano Potgieter, George Linde, Rashid Khan (capt), Odean Smith, Olly Stone, Jofra Archer.
Meanwhile Betway doubled prize money for clean one-handed fan catches off a six
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