The league stage is done and dusted, the business end is here! Our boys take on defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape at Newlands in Qualifier 1 on Tuesday. A place in the SA20 2024 final is at stake!
The winner will qualify for the grand final at the same venue on Saturday while the loser will head to Johannesburg for Qualifier 2 on Thursday.
Riding on some great cricket, we finished second on the points table with seven wins in the league stage. Our bowling and fielding attack has looked complete and has been a pillar to our success, scalping 78 wickets from 10 matches this season.
Leading the wicket-takers list for us is spin wizard Noor Ahmad, picking up 12 wickets in just six matches. Skipper Keshav Maharaj and Reece Topley have taken important wickets too, with 11 each. Marcus Stoinis picked up 10 wickets in the five matches he featured for us this season.
Our batting department, led by Matthew Breetzke and Heinrich Klaasen, has been fantastic. Six of our seven wins so far have come when setting the target first and this is a testament to our remarkable ability to post challenging scores on the board and defend them well.
We come into Tuesday’s contest on the back of a seven-wicket defeat to Joburg Super Kings. SEC, meanwhile, got the better of Paarl Royals to claim the top spot on the points table.
Our bowlers will have to rein in the likes of Jordan Hermann, Tristan Stubbs and Aiden Markram if we are to win the qualifier. SEC also have the experience of Daniel Worrall and Ottniel Baartman in their bowling line-up.
Sunrisers Eastern Cape vs Durban’s Super Giants head-to-head record
This will be our third meeting against Sunrisers Eastern Cape this season and our fifth overall.
JJ Smuts and Nicholas Pooran powered us to a 35-run victory over them at Gqeberha in the first match. Our 225/3 proved too much even for the defending champions, who could manage 190/9. We lost the reverse fixture by five wickets in the last over after scoring 159/7 at Kingsmead.
Last season, the Super Giants lost their away fixture in Gqeberha but had the upper hand at Kingsmead before rain played spoilsport.
Match details
Sunrisers Eastern Cape vs Durban’s Super Giants, Qualifier 1
Date and day: February 6, Tuesday
Venue: Newlands, Cape Town
Time: 5:30 PM SAST, 9 PM IST
