As the Betway SA20 approaches the midway point of the group stages, defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape have very little room left for error if they are to make the tournament playoffs.
The men in orange have been far from their title-winning best, suffering three successive losses, more than the entire tournament in 2024, to start their title defence.
They face Durban’s Super Giants on Friday in KwaZulu-Natal at 5.30pm, still rooted to the bottom of the six-team table without any points.
Losses against MI Cape Town and Paarl Royals were followed by a sobering defeat to Pretoria Capitals, and they conceded two bonus points in the process.
Those were their heaviest defeats in the history of the competition.
The 97-run loss was the biggest defeat by runs, while the nine-wicket defeat to Paarl Royals (24 balls left) and six-wicket loss to Pretoria Capitals (eight balls left), was the biggest by balls remaining.
A win is desperately needed to get their campaign moving in the right direction with three home games on the horizon.
A fourth defeat would see them become the fourth side in the competition’s history to register that unwanted feat.
MI Cape Town suffered it twice, while the Durban Super Giants and Paarl Royals have also registered four losses in a row.
However, should the Sunrisers go down on Friday night, they will be the first side to have lost their opening four matches of the league.
The bowlers have done their job for the most part, but the batsmen have not had the best tournament so far and some tough calls must be made over the next few matches if they are to turn the negative results into points.
Skipper Aiden Markram is the only Sunrisers batsman in the top five run scorers so far this season, with 101 runs, which included a gritty 82 in Paarl, his first score of 50 or more in 27 T20 innings.
Marco Jansen, who struck a half-century coming in at number seven against the Capitals, and Tristan Stubbs, the top run scorer for the Sunrisers last season, occupy positions 12 and 16 with 69 and 52 runs, respectively this season.
Their top three batsmen have scored 85 runs at an average of 9.44 this season, with Zak Crawley’s 27 runs the highest score across three innings.
In season one, the top two averaged more than 30 and, in season two, 22.67.
It must be noted that against the Capitals David Bedingham was moved up the order at the expense of Jordan Hermann, while Patrick Kruger made his debut for the Gqeberha side after missing the first two matches.
“We know we haven’t played well in these last three games, and we need to make our own luck,” batting coach Russell Domingo said after their defeat in Centurion.
“We need to do the basics a bit better than we are doing at the moment.
“Fortunately, there are still seven games to go.
“It’s a long competition. We haven’t started well in previous editions, but managed to find a way,
“Hopefully, we can get into that sort of form and confidence in the next couple of weeks because we’re running out of time and need to make a play.”
HeraldLIVE
Sunrisers looking to avoid fourth defeat in DSG clash
We’re running out of time and need to make a play, says batting coach Domingo
Image: SA20
As the Betway SA20 approaches the midway point of the group stages, defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape have very little room left for error if they are to make the tournament playoffs.
The men in orange have been far from their title-winning best, suffering three successive losses, more than the entire tournament in 2024, to start their title defence.
They face Durban’s Super Giants on Friday in KwaZulu-Natal at 5.30pm, still rooted to the bottom of the six-team table without any points.
Losses against MI Cape Town and Paarl Royals were followed by a sobering defeat to Pretoria Capitals, and they conceded two bonus points in the process.
Those were their heaviest defeats in the history of the competition.
The 97-run loss was the biggest defeat by runs, while the nine-wicket defeat to Paarl Royals (24 balls left) and six-wicket loss to Pretoria Capitals (eight balls left), was the biggest by balls remaining.
A win is desperately needed to get their campaign moving in the right direction with three home games on the horizon.
A fourth defeat would see them become the fourth side in the competition’s history to register that unwanted feat.
MI Cape Town suffered it twice, while the Durban Super Giants and Paarl Royals have also registered four losses in a row.
However, should the Sunrisers go down on Friday night, they will be the first side to have lost their opening four matches of the league.
The bowlers have done their job for the most part, but the batsmen have not had the best tournament so far and some tough calls must be made over the next few matches if they are to turn the negative results into points.
Skipper Aiden Markram is the only Sunrisers batsman in the top five run scorers so far this season, with 101 runs, which included a gritty 82 in Paarl, his first score of 50 or more in 27 T20 innings.
Marco Jansen, who struck a half-century coming in at number seven against the Capitals, and Tristan Stubbs, the top run scorer for the Sunrisers last season, occupy positions 12 and 16 with 69 and 52 runs, respectively this season.
Their top three batsmen have scored 85 runs at an average of 9.44 this season, with Zak Crawley’s 27 runs the highest score across three innings.
In season one, the top two averaged more than 30 and, in season two, 22.67.
It must be noted that against the Capitals David Bedingham was moved up the order at the expense of Jordan Hermann, while Patrick Kruger made his debut for the Gqeberha side after missing the first two matches.
“We know we haven’t played well in these last three games, and we need to make our own luck,” batting coach Russell Domingo said after their defeat in Centurion.
“We need to do the basics a bit better than we are doing at the moment.
“Fortunately, there are still seven games to go.
“It’s a long competition. We haven’t started well in previous editions, but managed to find a way,
“Hopefully, we can get into that sort of form and confidence in the next couple of weeks because we’re running out of time and need to make a play.”
HeraldLIVE
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