Gqeberha [South Africa], February 2 : A calm, well-compiled half-century by Jordan Hermann and fantastic bowling spells from Craig Overton and Marco Jansen helped Sunrisers Eastern Cape return to winning ways at St George's Park on Saturday in the ongoing SA20 season three, claiming a 48-run victory over Paarl Royals on a festive Saturday afternoon in Gqeberha.
In the process, the defending back-to-back champions sealed third place (with five wins and losses each) on the SA20 season three standings and will meet Joburg Super Kings in the Eliminator at Centurion on Wednesday, 5 February.
Their captain Aiden Markram won the toss and elected to bat against Royals, who were once again captained by Bjorn Fortuin and were much changed. with new dad David Miller recovering from a niggle too. Australian replacement signing Mitchell Owen went straight into the Playing XI and Rookie Dewan Marais was also handed a debut. With Dinesh Karthik rested, Lhuan-dre Pretorius took the gloves today.
Sunrisers posted 148/8, courtesy of Jordan Hermann's 53 off 38 balls (with six fours and a six), and Tristan Stubbs' 43 off 27 balls (with a four and three sixes). Stubbs smashed 23 runs in the final over delivered by Royals' new Australian recruit Mitchell Owen.
Sunrisers coach Adrian Birrell will certainly be pleased with the fact that two of the team's young batting stars are hitting form ahead of the all-important playoffs stages.
The Sunrisers' seamers have been highly effective at St George's Park and they delivered once more with the competition's leading wicket-taker Marco Jansen (3/22) and Craig Overton (3/15) claiming six wickets between them to rout the Royals for just 100.
Lhuan (3) and Owen (7) failed to make an impact and the team sunk to 22/5. However, Rubin Hermann (35 in 39 balls, with three fours and a six) and Andile Phehlukwayo (22 in 24 balls, with two fours and a six) had a 49-run stand. But damage was already done and Paarl was skittled out for 100 in 18.2 overs.