Sunrisers Eastern Cape vs Pretoria Capitals Preview
The Capitals are in hot form ahead of the playoffs, winning four and losing just one of their last five matches. They are backed to book the first spot in the SA20 final.
The Sunrisers made the early running at the start of the season with back-to-back wins, but they have lacked consistency since then and will need to use the double chance.
- Pretoria Capitals’ Sherfane Rutherford (317 runs, ave 79.25) is 3rd on the runs list.
- Pretoria Capitals’ Dewald Brevis hit three sixes in his 53 against the Super Kings.
- Sunrisers Eastern Cape’s Quinton de Kock scored 56 off 49 balls vs MI Cape Town.
- Sunrisers Eastern Cape’s Matthew Breetzke scored 66 off 55 balls vs MI Cape Town.
Head-to-Head
The Capitals have won two and lost three of their last five SA20 matches against the Sunrisers, who have won their last three matches on the bounce.
Sunrisers Eastern Cape Inconsistent After Strong Start
The Sunrisers bounced back from defeat to MI Cape Town by beating them by seven wickets in the return fixture two days later.
Quinton de Kock has rediscovered his winning touch to rise up to second on the runs list, scoring four half-centuries at a strike-rate of 149.09. De Kock has had great support from the top-order, with Jordan Hermann, Jonny Bairstow and Matthew Breetzke all topping 200 runs for the season.
The Sunrisers’ bowling has been exceptional this season, with four of their bowlers occupying the top eight spots in the wickets list and all bowling at under eight runs to the over.
Anrich Nortje has had a storming season, taking 14 wickets at an economy rate of 7.05. Adam Milne (11 wickets, econ 7.61), Marco Jansen (10 wickets, econ 7.06) and Senuran Muthusamy (9 wickets, econ 7.52) have all played a huge part in their side's success this season.
Pretoria Capitals Win 4 Of Their Last 5
After losing to the Royals by six wickets, the Capitals picked up their fourth win in five matches when they beat the Super Kings by 21 runs.
Shai Hope has been the Capitals’ leading light with the bat through the early part of the season with scores of 36, 45, 118*, 22 and 25. Sherfane Rutherford has stormed ahead of Hope on the runs list, failing just once and scoring 25, 47*, 47*, 42*, 53, 29 and 74* in the series to date.
After a slow start to the season, Dewald Brevis has found some form with scores of 34, 21 and 53 in his last three knocks.
Lizaad Williams is one of three Capitals bowlers on nine wickets for the season, along with Gideon Peters (econ 7.57) and Keshav Maharaj (econ 6.69). Williams has picked up 2/28 and 3/25 in his last two matches.
Team News
Sunrisers Eastern Cape (squad): Tristan Stubbs, JP King, Jonny Bairstow, Patrick Kruger, Matthew Breetzke, Adam Milne, James Coles, Senuran Muthusamy, Quinton de Kock, Anrich Nortje, Aiden Markram, Tharindu Rathnayake, Allah Ghazanfar, Lutho Sipamla, Lewis Gregory, Beyers Swanepoel, Jordan Hermann, Mitchell van Buuren, Marco Jansen, CJ King, Chris Wood.
Pretoria Capitals (squad): Will Smeed, Connor Esterhuizen (w), Shai Hope, Dewald Brevis, Roston Chase, Andre Russell, Bryce Parsons, Codi Yusuf, Gideon Peters, Keshav Maharaj (c), Lungi Ngidi, Tymal Mills, Lizaad Williams, Sibonelo Makhanya, Wihan Lubbe, Keith Dudgeon, Junaid Dawood, Sherfane Rutherford, Jordan Cox, Daniel Smith, Meeka-eel Prince.