Sunrisers Eastern Cape are SA20 champions. Picture: SA20/Sportzpics/Gallo Images
Roelof van der Merwe continued to inspire the Sunrisers Eastern Cape as the underdogs cruised to the inaugural SA20 title by hammering the log-leading Pretoria Capitals by four wickets with 22 balls to spare in the final at the Wanderers on Sunday afternoon.
It was a good toss for the Sunrisers to win after three days of rain forced the final to be pushed back by a day and the pitch to be under covers, and Pretoria Capitals, sent in to bat, were bowled out for just 135 in the final over.
They were ripped apart by left-arm spinner Van der Merwe, who took 4/31 in his four overs to end as the tournament’s joint leading wicket-taker with Anrich Nortje.
He struck two big blows up front by bowling both Phil Salt (8) and Theunis de Bruyn (11), with a jaffa that turned from middle-and-leg to hit off-stump, and then also set into motion the final collapse that saw Pretoria crash from 127/6, by dismissing Eathan Bosch (15) and Migael Pretorius (0) with successive yorkers.
The Capitals top-order all managed to get starts, but they found scoring difficult in the middle overs, and tended to lose their wickets in clumps.
Off-spinner Aiden Markram really strangled Pretoria in the middle overs, conceding just 17 runs in his four overs and bowling the experienced Colin Ingram (17) with a beauty that turned past the left-hander’s outside edge.
Ottneil Baartman was also very effective, claiming the wickets of Kusal Mendis (21) and Jimmy Neesham (19), while conceding just 22 runs in three overs.
The Pretoria Capitals bowling was then torn apart by Sunrisers opener Adam Rossington, who blasted 57 off just 30 balls to settle any nerves over the run-chase on a pitch that had now been under the sun for a couple of hours, but still provided turn and a bit for the pace bowlers.
The Englishman was not at the crease for a long time, but he certainly paid his rent as he pummelled four fours and five sixes to make life much easier for the rest of the batting line-up.
The highlight of the innings was when Rossington plundered 26 runs off Migael Pretorius in the last over of the powerplay.
The onslaught meant that by the time Pretoria’s best bowlers came on – Adil Rashid (4-0-13-1) and Nortje (4-0-21-2) – it was too late for them to impact the result, although they did at least make the margin of defeat a bit more palatable.
Jordan Hermann (22) and Markram (26) partnered with Rossington to take Sunrisers to the verge of victory, before some cheap wickets fell in the closing stages.