SA20: All-round Sunrisers Eastern Cape earn playoff spot following nine-wicket win over Joburg Super Kings
Feb 01, 2024
Johannesburg [South Africa], February 1 : Defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape secured their place in the SA20 season two playoffs on Wednesday with a comprehensive bonus point nine-wicket victory over Joburg Super Kings at the Wanderers.
The Sunrisers were dominant from the outset after captain Aiden Markram won the toss and elected to bowl.
Daniel Worrall has been excellent with the new ball for the Sunrisers throughout the campaign and once again showed his capabilities with 3/20 to dismiss the Super Kings for just 78, as per a press release from SA20.
Worrall ripped the heart out of the JSK top-order by removing both Faf du Plessis and Reeza Hendricks for ducks before picking up Kyle Simmonds in his second spell to complete a wonderful first night out at the Bullring.
JSK never managed to recover from the early setbacks with Marco Jansen (2/13) and Beyers Swanepoel (2/21) picking up a couple of wickets each before Patrick Kruger delivered the coup de grace with the remarkable figures of 3/8.
Wayne Madsen (32 in 23 balls, with five fours and a six) was the top run-scorer for JSK.
The Sunrisers cruised through their run chase with English pair Dawid Malan (40* in 32 balls, with five fours and a six) and Tom Abell (26* in 20 balls, with three fours and a six) sharing an unbroken 50-run partnership for the second wicket.
The only success for JSK was the wicket of Jordan Hermann, who was caught behind off Lizaad Williams for 11.
The Sunrisers now head down to Boland Park where they will go head-to-head with the Paarl Royals in a bid to secure second place that earns an automatic place in Qualifier 1 at Newlands next week.
Meanwhile, the Super Kings' chances of qualifying for the playoffs are now hanging by a thread as they only have one more game remaining against the league leaders Durban's Super Giants on Saturday at the Wanderers.
The Super Kings are currently on 13 points with Pretoria Capitals (10) and MI Cape Town (9) all still fighting it out for the last remaining playoff spot.
