The Pretoria Capitals and Sunrisers Eastern Cape face off in an all-important SA20 clash at Centurion this afternoon with both winless this season.

After falling short in their tournament opener against Durban’s Super Giants, the Capitals have managed to pick up two points after the return match in Centurion was washed out.

However, it’s the Sunrisers who find themselves rooted to the bottom of the table after two heavy defeats to MI Cape Town and the Paarl Royals.

The defending champions will be hoping to find something from within in Centurion today to urgently kickstart their season.

𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝟑. 👊 pic.twitter.com/5T52EoO8jl

— Sunrisers Eastern Cape (@SunrisersEC) January 14, 2025

Fortunately for the Sunrisers, they have been in this position before and have still gone on to win the championship.

“We know, we’re a good side,” said Sunrisers batsman Tom Abell. “We’ve not played well the first couple of games, but obviously we’ll try and draw on our experiences over the past couple of years.

“And, yeah, there’s certainly the belief and the faith within the group that we can bounce back. We’ve got quality players. We’ve got a quality team. We just need to try and put our game together.”

The Sunrisers have in the past been led by their bowling unit with Ottneil Baartman and Marco Jansen – the top bowlers in SA20 history.

Baartman missed the first game due to injury, and was still finding his feet upon his return against the Paarl Royals at Boland Park.

The Capitals meanwhile are hoping their star fast bowler Anrich Nortje will be back to lead their attack.

Nortje was the joint leading wicket-taker in the inaugural 2023 season, but missed the entire 2024 season due to injury. The 31-year-old also did not feature in the Capitals’ opening defeat to the Super Giants at Kingsmead.

However, he participated fully in the warm-ups in Centurion on Sunday and is expected to make his much-anticipated return this afternoon against the Sunrisers.

Photo: Sportzpics