• Sipamla, Viljoen deliver for Joburg Super Kings

    Published on

    Joburg Super Kings fast bowlers Lutho Sipamla and Hardus Viljoen ripped through the Sunrisers Eastern Cape to drive their team to a nine-wicket bonus-point victory at the Wanderers.

    After all the rain the Highveld has experienced the past weeks, the Super Kings fans streamed through the turnstiles at the Wanderers to take in the perfect summer’s day to support their team.

    The yellow whistles bristling around the Bullring had an immediate effect with Sipamla (3-13) gaining the ultimate redemption.

    After the young fast bowler over-stepped at St George’s Park on Friday when he clean bowled Zak Crawley with the first ball of the innings, Sipamla followed it up on Sunday by having the England Test batsman caught at slip this time.

    It was the perfect start for both Sipamla and the Super Kings. With his confidence restored, the fast bowler charged in and claimed a second wicket when Tom Abell chopped on to his stumps to leave the Sunrisers reeling at 0-2 after the first over.

    From there on the Sunrisers only slipped further into the quagmire with Jordan Hermann and Aiden Markram also following shortly to leave the defending champions at 17-4.

    David Bedingham (48) and Tristan Stubbs (37) attempted a rebuild with a 57-run partnership, but the Super Kings were not going to release the pressure with Hardus Viljoen (4-24) closing out the innings with a superb death over spell that saw the Sunrisers skittled for 118.

    The Super Kings’ performance in the field was also exceptional with Donovan Ferreira highlighting it with an exceptional one-handed grab while running on the boundary to send Beyers Swanepoel back to the dugout.

    The Super Kings’ run chase was near perfect with Devon Conway (76* off 56 balls) and Wihan Lubbe (25* off 17 balls) easing their team home with six overs remaining.

    HIGHLIGHTS: Joburg Super Kings vs Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SA20)

    It was the perfect way for the Super Kings to celebrate their captain Faf du Plessis’ 400th T20 appearance.

    “T20 is a strange game. You feel on top of the world after a win like that. As a team, we needed it,” Du Plessis said.

    “Two in the first over makes a huge difference. It really breaks a team when you can take wickets in the powerplay.

    “From a bowling perspective, we were not far off [in the previous game as well]. Today was nice to get a few rewards, especially glad for the bowling attack.”

    Photo: Arjun Singh/Sportzpics

    Post by

    Simon Borchardt