A sold-out Newlands will host the SA20 final between the Sunrisers Eastern Cape and Durban’s Super Giants on Saturday.
It is a rematch of the first qualifier playoff from earlier this week in Cape Town, which the Sunrisers comfortably won by 51 runs to book their second successive appearance in the grand showpiece.
The Super Giants, meanwhile, had to take the long route up to Johannesburg to face the Joburg Super Kings in the second qualifier playoff at the Wanderers.
Keshav Maharaj’s team raised themselves for the occasion, defeating the Super Kings by 69 runs to secure their first SA20 final appearance.
The Sunrisers have the experience of winning last year’s final before a packed Wanderers and captain Aiden Markram believes this, along with the recuperation gained this week, will benefit his team on Saturday.
“We’ve had a couple of days off to recharge and rest. We also had a nice training session on Friday to get the energy back up,” said Markram.
“We’re looking forward to the final, as it’s going to be a fantastic day and I’m sure when we rock up we’ll be filled with plenty of energy and plenty of excitement.
“It can only help those that were involved last year and ultimately the occasion is what it is on the side. We will try to put our best foot forward and see where it takes us from a result point of view.”
WATCH: Sunrisers’ road to SA20 final
The Super Giants, meanwhile, will be battle-hardened after their extra match and will certainly take the confidence of having bounced back at the Bullring into the showdown with the Sunrisers.
“We are excited and energetic,” said captain Maharaj. “The guys are still buzzing from [Thursday] night. It was a brilliant, clinical performance for us after a bit of a little wobble along the way.
“For us it’s all about the execution and having clarity with regards to our game plans and hopefully it is enough to triumph against the Sunrisers.”
Maharaj also believes they have learned valuable lessons from their defeat to the Sunrisers earlier in the week and will hopefully be able to implement the changes.
“I think we need to apply ourselves and stay true to our plans. We deviated a bit from that, especially in terms of a batting point of view,” the DSG skipper said. “We need to dust ourselves off and learn from our mistakes.”
WATCH: Super Giants’ road to SA20 final
The final is being billed as a high-octane clash between the Sunrisers’ impressive seam bowling unit going head-to-head with the Super Giants’ much-vaunted batsmen.
The Sunrisers boast three fast bowlers atop the SA20 wicket-takers leaderboard in Ottniel Baartman (16), Daniel Worrall (15) and Marco Jansen (15).
The Super Giants, meanwhile, have the explosive Heinrich Klaasen (447 runs with a strike rate of 208.88) and Matthew Breetzke (398 with a strike rate of 142.14) listed in the top four of the batting run-scoring charts.
The final will start at 5:30pm (SA time).
Sunrisers Eastern Cape squad: Aiden Markram (c), Tom Abell, Ottniel Baartman, Temba Bavuma, Liam Dawson, Sarel Erwee, Aya Gqamane, Simon Harmer, Jordan Hermann, Marco Jansen, Patrick Kruger, Dawid Malan, Adam Rossington, Caleb Seleka, Andile Simelane, Tristan Stubbs, Beyers Swanepoel, Daniel Worrall.
Durban’s Super Giants squad: Keshav Maharaj (c), Ashton Agar, Matthew Breetzke, Junior Dala, Quinton de Kock, Tony de Zorzi, Heinrich Klaasen, Wiaan Mulder, Naveen-ul-Haq Murid, Bryce Parsons, Keemo Paul, Dwaine Pretorius, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jon-Jon Smuts, Jason Smith, Prenelan Subrayen, Reece Topley.
Photo: Ron Gaunt/Sportzpics
