Sunrisers not ready to press panic button — Markram

The men in orange are yet to register a win in the third edition of the SA20

Sunrisers Eastern Cape skipper Aiden Markram says they are not panicking yet after suffering losses in their opening SA20 cricket games.
STAYING CALM: Sunrisers Eastern Cape skipper Aiden Markram says they are not panicking yet after suffering losses in their opening SA20 cricket games.
Image: SA20

Despite starting their SA20 cricket campaign with two heavy defeats, Sunrisers Eastern Cape skipper Aiden Markram is not ready to sound the alarm bells just yet.

The Gqeberha side suffered a second successive loss, this time to the Paarl Royals by nine wickets at Boland Park on Saturday afternoon. The defeat came only 48 hours after their 97-run loss against MI Cape Town in Gqeberha on Thursday in the tournament opener.

Those results leave them rooted to the bottom of the table.

Markram (82) scored his first half-century in 27 T20 innings on Saturday, helping his side to 175/5 after winning the toss and electing to make first use of the Boland surface.

In response, 18-year-old Lhuan-dre Pretorius struck a magnificent 51-ball 97, showing maturity beyond his years as he hit 10 fours and six sixes, striking at more than 190.

He treated the Sunrisers attack with absolute disdain as the Royals reached their target with eight balls to spare.

He struck 50 runs cumulatively off the bowling of Ottniel Baartman (22), Marco Jansen (15) and Markram (13), who have all been capped at international level.

With the vast experience of Englishman Joe Root, who contributed 35 runs to their 132-run opening wicket partnership, at the other end, Pretorius could play freely as he hit 76 of his runs in boundaries. 

Having played alongside Pretorius with the Titans in the CSA T20 Challenge at the start of the SA domestic season, Markram said the broad-shouldered left-hander was a hard worker with all the tools to go far in the game.

“He is special. There were about three T20 games I played for the Titans and he was a part of that team,” Markram said.

“When you watch him play, you think that there are not a lot of guys who can do that.

“He will grow into an even better player. This is only the start of people getting to know who he is and what he is all about.

“I am chuffed for him and I know he works hard, so it is nice to see someone so young, with so much talent, having that strong drive to do well.”

Asked about his batting performance and reaching the 50-plus milestone after such a long time, Markram said it was a bittersweet moment.

“It felt tough [out in the middle] but fortunately [I’ve] played quite a bit of cricket here, so you understand how to structure an innings. 

“As a batting unit, we had good intent at the right times of the innings and it was nice to spend a bit of time out there and get some runs.

“You’ll never say no to the runs, but I always say it doesn’t count for much if you don’t get the win. So, bittersweet unfortunately, but still grateful to spend some time out there.”

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