Sun set to shine on Sunrisers and DSG at St George's Park

The Sunrisers Eastern Cape and Durban’s Super Giants will attempt to go again when they meet in Match 21 of Betway SA20 Season 4 at St George’s Park on Sunday afternoon (3.30pm start).

The two sides could only look on in despair on Friday evening when consistent drizzle washed out their first meeting at Kingsmead. But they should have no such problems with the sun set to blaze down in Gqeberha with temperatures set to peak at 32℃.

It has certainly been shining on the Sunrisers with the two-times champions topping the log with 19 points and an advantageous run-rate of +2.953.

Captain Tristan Stubbs has proved adept at leading the Sunrisers for the first time with his side having lost just one game out of six thus far, with a victory over DSG set to confirm their play-off spot.

“Often when you're just a player, often as a young guy you just worry about your own game to a degree, make sure you're alright,” Stubbs said.

“I feel like it's a lot now about helping guys when they're not and about how we can get the team better. That's what I'm really enjoying, helping everyone.”

Stubbs has certainly relished being reacquainted with his former Grey High School mate Matthew Breetzke and the pair are certainly looking forward to putting on a show for the St George’s Park faithful.

“We played together from school, played for the Warriors a lot together, so I always love playing with Breedo,” he said.

“I feel like we know each other really well on the cricket field and the Sunrisers have always prided themselves on having local boys, I think that's what's always helped.

“Hopefully the local boys can bring that fire and chaos. Get the crowd behind us and anything can happen then.”

On the other side of the scale, Durban’s Super Giants have not quite reaped the results they would have liked considering the talent-laden squad they possess.

The clash against Sunrisers is vitally important for Lance Klusener’s men to remain in the play-off race but top-order batter Marques Ackerman is confident they can turn things around.

“We've got a big encounter coming up against Sunrisers. I mean, we've just lacked a little bit of momentum in this tournament but I don't think it's all doom and gloom,” Ackerman said.

“We've got a great change room and the environments awesome. So, and a lot of experience. So, it takes one game for us to click, and you never know what could happen.”

Meanwhile, it has been an exhilarating two weeks of South Africa’s premier T20 franchise League, highlighted by world-class cricket, incredible crowds across the six stadiums and a special sprinkle of the summer festive cheer.

From a cricket point of view, the first half of the competition has featured extraordinary team and individual performances.

Match 16 at Kingsmead between hosts Durban’s Super Giants and Pretoria Capitals was a special night in the history of Betway SA20.

Capitals opener Shai Hope smashed an unbeaten 118 to surpass Kyle Verreynne’s 113 not out to become the holder of the highest individual score in Betway SA20 history.

Hope also joined MI Cape Town’s Ryan Rickelton as the two centurions of Season 4. Rickelton, who added a second hundred in Match 20 against Joburg Super Kings, is top of the current run-scoring charts with 317 runs at a strike-rate of 172.28, including 24 sixes.

The excitement was not over yet at Kingsmead with Capitals’ seamer Lungi Ngidi etching his name into the record books when he claimed the League’s first hat-trick. Ngidi’s victims were David Wiese, Sunil Narine and Gerald Coetzee.

Season 4 has also seen Betway SA20 extend its global footprint with a number of players from a large variety of countries making an impact over the course of the first fortnight.

Royals’ bowlers, Ottneil Baartman and Sikandar Raza top the list with 11 wickets each, with Baartman having also passed the 50-wicket milestone in the process to join his former Sunrisers Eastern Cape teammate Marco Jansen as the only members of the exclusive club.

Meanwhile, the 1 000-run club now numbers five, with Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen and Faf du Plessis having joined Heinrich Klaasen and Rickelton.

Off the field, the fans have brought the festive cheer, with the League recording the greatest number of sold out matches in the first half of the competition since inception. At the time of publication, 14 matches of the completed 17 matches were sold out (four more than in Season 3) while there has been a 22% increase in ticket sales across the first 15 matches in Season 3. The Final was again the best-seller, selling out in the least number of days compared to Season 3.

On screen the action has been just as incredible, with audience viewership on host broadcaster SuperSport and Indian broadcaster JioStar, peaking at impressive numbers.

On SuperSport, Season 4’s opening fixture delivered a larger local linear audience than other major T20 leagues, outperforming the most recent IPL opening fixture by 59% and the BBL by 118%.

In India, JioStar’s linear channel Star Sports recorded the highest viewership for a Betway SA20 opening match, with the clash between MI Cape Town and Durban’s Super Giant’s witnessing a 23% jump from Season 3.

Streaming platform JioHotstar has also had a 50% increase in live video views.

The online fans have been as equally engaging with video views across all social media platforms up by 116% compared to the same time in Season 3, with the audience growth already at 137%.

The League’s partners have also been a key part of the action; with the fan favourite Betway Catch R2-million already delivering 8 spectacular one-handed catches while Absa has given away R230 000 to lucky fans at each of the stadiums with Switch also rewarding fans with a cash prize at every match. Fans still have two weeks to guess the number of balls in the Suzuki Swift at stadiums and stand the chance to walk away with a brand-new car at the Final.

With the competition heading into the business end and Play-off matches, the interest and demand for tickets continues to increase. Tickets are available at www.sa20.co.za/matches