Much like Paarl in their defeat to MI Cape Town in the first qualifier in Gqeberha, the Super Kings made changes to the batting order that jeopardised the run chase.
They sent in rookie JP King and the out-of-form Wihan Lubbe, holding back the experienced English duo of Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali.
While Moeen failed again, Bairstow’s 37 off 17 made one wonder what could have been possible had he batted earlier.
It was an especially chastening outing for Lutho Sipamla, who as the tournament progressed bowled himself into contention for a Proteas' call-up to the Champions Trophy after the injuries to Anrich Nortjé and Gerald Coetzee.
But instead of building on the 12 wickets he took before this fixture, Sipamla, who earned effusive praise from his skipper Faf du Plessis on Tuesday, was taken apart by the Sunrisers.
He started the match with a wide long-hop which David Bedingham slapped for four, over-pitched two balls later and was driven to the boundary by the same batter.
His confidence quickly eroded.
Bedingham and Tony de Zorzi smashed three sixes between them in Sipamla’s next over as he leaked more than half of the runs — 33 — that the Sunrisers scored in the opening power play — 55.
Though the Super Kings spinners kept a tight rein on the scoring — with Maheesh Theekshana, Imran Tahir and Moeen conceding a combined 69 runs in their 12 overs along with sharing four wickets — Sipamla and Hardus Viljoen were too easy to score against.
Markram merely bided his time and when Du Plessis went back to the quicks, the Sunrisers skipper pounced.
Some muscular hitting saw him reach a third half-century this season, and slide into the top three run-scorers at the same time.
He finished with 63 off 40 balls, scoring five fours and two sixes, and shared a match-changing partnership of 53 off only 24 balls with Marco Jansen, who needed only 12 deliveries to score 23.
Sipamla registered the worst figures of this year’s tournament — 73 runs in four overs, conceding six fours and five sixes. — TimesLIVE
Sunrisers get the job done in Centurion
Sports reporter
Image: Shaun Roy/SA20
That Championship mentality that has guided them to each of the first two Betway SA20 titles was on full display from the Sunrisers Eastern Cape, who, inspired by skipper Aiden Markram, trounced the Joburg Super Kings by 32 runs in the Eliminator fixture in Centurion.
The Sunrisers’s playoff record in this tournament across its first three seasons is: played 5, won 5. And their performance on Wednesday suggests they won’t be loosening their grip on their crown soon.
Certainly, the Paarl Royals, currently on a three-match losing streak, ahead of Thursday’s second qualifier, will not fancy facing Markram’s men given the intensity and class they showed at SuperSport Park.
In all of the game’s most important moments, the Sunrisers played better, but it was with the bat that they had the greater firepower at the end of their innings.
The Super Kings matched them run for run in their pursuit of a target of 185, but they didn’t have any one of Markram’s ability at the end of the innings.
It was the 53 runs scored off the last four overs — 39 of those coming off the last 12 balls — which turned the match decisively the Sunrisers' way.
It meant that in their reply the Super Kings had to get ahead of the scoring rate, something they failed to do.
Devon Conway had provided a good start hitting six fours in the power play, but in the four overs following his dismissal, Joburg only managed another two boundaries, with the momentum of their innings fading away.
Much like Paarl in their defeat to MI Cape Town in the first qualifier in Gqeberha, the Super Kings made changes to the batting order that jeopardised the run chase.
They sent in rookie JP King and the out-of-form Wihan Lubbe, holding back the experienced English duo of Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali.
While Moeen failed again, Bairstow’s 37 off 17 made one wonder what could have been possible had he batted earlier.
It was an especially chastening outing for Lutho Sipamla, who as the tournament progressed bowled himself into contention for a Proteas' call-up to the Champions Trophy after the injuries to Anrich Nortjé and Gerald Coetzee.
But instead of building on the 12 wickets he took before this fixture, Sipamla, who earned effusive praise from his skipper Faf du Plessis on Tuesday, was taken apart by the Sunrisers.
He started the match with a wide long-hop which David Bedingham slapped for four, over-pitched two balls later and was driven to the boundary by the same batter.
His confidence quickly eroded.
Bedingham and Tony de Zorzi smashed three sixes between them in Sipamla’s next over as he leaked more than half of the runs — 33 — that the Sunrisers scored in the opening power play — 55.
Though the Super Kings spinners kept a tight rein on the scoring — with Maheesh Theekshana, Imran Tahir and Moeen conceding a combined 69 runs in their 12 overs along with sharing four wickets — Sipamla and Hardus Viljoen were too easy to score against.
Markram merely bided his time and when Du Plessis went back to the quicks, the Sunrisers skipper pounced.
Some muscular hitting saw him reach a third half-century this season, and slide into the top three run-scorers at the same time.
He finished with 63 off 40 balls, scoring five fours and two sixes, and shared a match-changing partnership of 53 off only 24 balls with Marco Jansen, who needed only 12 deliveries to score 23.
Sipamla registered the worst figures of this year’s tournament — 73 runs in four overs, conceding six fours and five sixes. — TimesLIVE
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