Sunrisers Eastern Cape vs Joburg Super Kings, 24th Match, SA20, 2025-26 - Commentary

So, that's it from our side. Join us tomorrow for another high-octane contest from this season's SA20. Until next time, goodbye and cheers!

James Coles | Player of the Match: (On his expectations coming into play for the SA20) I’d heard a lot from fellow Englishmen who’d come over, so I had high expectations and it definitely hasn’t disappointed so far. It’s been pretty incredible. I always felt my time would come, so it was about doing all the right things behind the scenes and staying confident and prepared. When the opportunity arrived, I just wanted to be ready, and thankfully it came off today. (On his gameplan with the bat on a tricky surface) I came into the competition knowing the pitches are a bit different to England. I focused on hitting pockets, keeping the ball on the ground where possible. With the big boundaries here, clearing the ropes isn’t always the first option, so I was happy to hit the gaps and take the runs that were on offer.

Tristan Stubbs: We did the basics really well today on a pretty standard St George's wicket. I think the way it spun, generally you feel when you are struggling as a batter, it's difficult out there. The way Coles batted it was amazing. (On the move to bring Coles into the side) It was pretty straightforward, he is a serious off-spinner and the way he could bat just lengthened our batting lineup. And it was great to watch. (On whether there will be a shift in their mindset going ahead as they have already qualified for the playoffs) No, priority is to play the same. This comp's all about momentum. T20 cricket is all about momentum. And plan A will be to take momentum into the playoffs. And then that always helps momentum and T20 cricket's a funny game. (On the Orange Army) This crowd's amazing. There were, I mean, most of the school started today and we had a pretty packed crowd. And they were really vocal. So, we're really thankful for them. And a lot of the local boys know most of the people in the crowd. So, it's awesome for us.

Donovan Ferreira: (On how did he assess the target) I think we bowled well in patches. There were a few overs that didn’t quite go our way, where we weren’t as disciplined as we needed to be. I think it was probably about 10 runs too many in the end. But having said that, with our batting lineup, we felt it was still a score we could chase. (On their plan during the run-chase) That’s why we sent in one or two left-handers to take on their left-arm spin. We knew they were likely to bowl it from both ends, and the pitch was holding and turning a little bit. We also knew from the centre there was some variable bounce. So it was about giving ourselves the best chance. Unfortunately, we lost too many wickets in clusters, and that really hurt the chase. (On them still having a good chance to qualify for the playoffs) Well, the biggest thing is that every day is a new day. That’s really important in a tournament like this. You’ve got to learn quickly because the games come thick and fast. We need to be honest with ourselves, hit the nail on the head in terms of execution, and move on quickly. If we do that, we know we’ve got the quality in this group to bounce back and put ourselves in a strong position to qualify.

20:58 Local Time, 18:58 GMT, 00:28 IST: An empathic win for SEC at home! SEC have won four matches so far and all of them have been a bonus-point win - that shows how dominant they have been. de Kock's fifty at the top and Coles' blazing 34-ball 61-run knock lower down the order took the hosts to an above par score on a slowish surface. In response, JSK got off to a brisk start but some disciplined bowling from the home side slowed them down. The visitors kept losing wickets at regular intervals and could hardly gather any sort of momentum. The ball was gripping for the spinners and Muthusamy utilized the conditions to the optimum to pick up a 3-fer. Coles was also more than handy and chipped in with a couple of wickets. The lower order had too much to do and fell like a pack of cards.

Marco Jansen to Richard Gleeson, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

Nortje to Nandre Burger, THATS OUT!! Caught!!