SEC bowl Paarl Royals out for 49 in massive win

Sunrisers Eastern Cape began their SA20 campaign in emphatic fashion, bowling Paarl Royals out for a record low total of 49 to seal a crushing 137-run win with a bonus point. Anrich Nortje warmed up for the T20 World Cup in style with a searing spell and a four-wicket haul.

SEC opted to bat first, as has been the trend so far in this tournament, with openers Quinton de Kock and Jonny Bairstow adding 66 runs for the first wicket, including 52 in the PowerPlay. De Kock was the aggressor, picking 3 fours and 2 sixes while Bairstow knocked it around for 31 off 33 balls. Both were dismissed by the end of the 11th over and the punt to send Marco Jansen at No.3 didn't really work.

It was a quickfire 73-run stand off 42 balls between Matthew Breetzke (31 off 23) and Jordan Hermann (62* off 28, 5 fours, 4 sixes) that powered SEC to 186 for 4. 22 runs came off the last over and 47 off the final four in a flourish that Royals couldn't recover from.

Royals were four down by the end of the PowerPlay, with Adam Milne picking two of them. But it was Jansen who had started the slide in the opening over with the wicket of Lhuan-dre Pretorius while Nortje capped off the powerplay with the wicket of Asa Tribe.

While Royals never looked in the chase, the back of the innings was broken in one Nortje over. The 11th over of the innings saw three wickets fall, all to Nortje, as the pacer found the perfect full and short lengths for the pitch. Tharindu Rathnayake's double strike in the 12th over knocked off the opposition for 49 with 8.1 overs remaining in the innings.

Brief Scores: Sunrisers Eastern Cape 186/4 (Hermann 62; Ottneil Baartman 2-40) beat Paarel Royals 49 in 11.5 overs (Asa Tribe 14; Nortje 4-13) by 137 runs