The Pretoria Capitals handed the Sunrisers Eastern Cape their third consecutive defeat of the SA20 season, by six wickets, on Tuesday in Centurion.

Capitals captain Rilee Rossouw won the toss and elected to bowl at the short-of-form back-to-back champions. That decision proved justified when the men in orange slipped to 4-3 inside two overs and then 50-6 before Marco Jansen and Simon Harmer finally established a meaningful partnership.

Jansen (51 off 35 balls; four fours, three sixes) was the main protagonist of their 40-run stand, but when Harmer fell to fellow spinner Senuran Muthusamy the end of the innings was near … with them soon being bowled out for just 113 – under-par for even a tricky Centurion pitch.

HIGHLIGHTS: Pretoria Capitals vs Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SA20)

For their part, the Capitals made a solid enough start as Will Jacks raced to 27 off 23 balls. However, his wicket – alongside those of Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Kyle Verreynne and Rossouw – kept the Sunrisers believing there was a chance when they were reduced to 61-4 in the ninth over.

However, an unbeaten 55-run partnership between Liam Livingstone (14*) and Marques Ackerman (39*; two fours, two sixes) carried the Capitals, with Ackerman’s six off the last ball of the 16th over sealing the bonus point.

Photo: Ron Gaunt/Sportzpics