Despite three losses in a row to launch competition, SEC are one match away from their third final
Firdose Moonda05-Feb-2025Sunrisers Eastern Cape 184 for 6 (Markram 62*, Tahir 2-21) beat Joburg Super Kings 152 for 7 (Bairstow 37, Overton 2-20) by 32 runsSunrisers Eastern Cape remain on course for the SA20 three-peat after beating Joburg Super Kings in the Eliminator in Centurion, having recovered spectacularly from three defeats in their opening three games. They will play Paarl Royals in the second qualifier in less than 24 hours’ time to determine who will face MI Cape Town in Saturday’s final.SEC have the advantage of having the most recent experience of conditions up country while Paarl, who played in the first qualifier in Gqeberha, have had to travel. They’ve also lost their last three matches and their best batter, Joe Root, to national duty, so SEC can consider themselves favourites to reach a third final, if not the title itself.While they are a franchise that has often billed themselves as the epitome of an outfit that relies on team efforts, there was one individual who cannot be ignored: Marco Jansen.Even before the match, he was already the leading wicket-taker for this season, and in SA20’s history, and what we might call the only genuine allrounder in this tournament. None of the other bowlers who have taken 10 wickets or more have come close to scoring even 100 runs – Mujeeb Ur Rahman is closest with 55 – and, naturally, none of the batters who have scored 100 runs have taken 10 wickets.In the Eliminator, Jansen also became the joint-leading wicket-taker in the Powerplay, level with Paarl’s Bjorn Fortuin. He removed Devon Conway, the batter who had scored the most runs against him in T20s without being dismissed, in the fifth over when Conway played a leaden-footed tame drive to start JSK’s slide.Jansen did not find himself among the wickets again and the accolades from the Eliminator will go to others but his 12-ball 23, and his role in the 53-run sixth-wicket stand that ultimately proved match-winning with Aiden Markram, deserves special mention and got it from Markram. “It’s small chip-ins (with the bat) that help us a lot,” Markram said. “And then a guy like Marco comes in and whacks it.”Jansen was in in the 17th over, when Tristan Stubbs was bowled by Imran Tahir, and SEC were 131 for 5, with a target under 170 still within JSK’s grasp. They scored 15 runs off the next 11 balls and were 146 for 5 with two overs to go. Arguably, JSK made a tactical blunder by bringing back Lutho Sipamla, whose first three overs had cost 44 runs, but in the absence of many other options, they chose to back a player who has been good for them through the tournament.Jansen made sure he had an ending to forget. He picked his slower ball early and sent Sipamla’s first ball for six and then took 16 more runs off four balls he faced in that over, including ending it with another six. In total, 21 of Jansen’s 23 runs came off the five he faced from Sipamla and his contribution pushed SEC over 180.Markram said at the post-match press conference that he was “hoping for 195-plus”, but in the end 184 proved enough, despite JSK getting off to a good start. Conway and Faf du Plessis put on 40 inside five overs before Jansen dismissed Conway to open JSK up and set SEC on course for victory. According to his team-mates, that is ultimately the thing Jansen does best.”His attitude to win is unmatched,” David Bedingham told ESPNcricinfo before the Eliminator. “If you ask him if he went for 100 runs and took zero wickets in a Test match and scored a couple of ducks, I don’t think he’d care unless we won. His desire to win is why he is who he is. It also helps that he’s super talented. He’s seven foot tall, he bowls quick, he bats well so that also helps. But I think it’s his desire to win that makes him so special.”Markram echoed the idea that contributing to the team is the most important thing to Jansen. “He’s a very quick learner and he absolutely hates losing. He just gets fired up every time he plays and he’s marrying that fired up energy with better smarts,” Markram said.There’s also something else Jansen does before every game which may actually be the secret to his success. “He eats a triple-decker pizza before every game on the bus,” Markram said. “And a Coke. That’s not a joke.”Jansen’s dietary habits aside, if there is an individual who has played the biggest part in SEC’s success, it’s him – which means he is playing the game exactly as he wants to. JSK can only look on in envy, especially after their bowling resources were “decimated”, as coach Stephen Fleming put it.Nandre Burger and Lizaad Williams were ruled out before the tournament began, Gerald Coetzee could only play one game and David Wiese four, while Beuran Hendricks withdrew after the tournament started and was replaced by Sipamla, who finished as their highest wicket-taker. On the eve of the Eliminator, they also lost spin-bowling allrounder Donovan Ferreira to a side strain and du Plessis joked that he was struggling to find 11 fit players to field. He did, but only just.Maintaining a tournament run that lasts for 13 games over four weeks with so many players missing cannot be easy but for JSK, it will also not be an excuse.”I hate looking for excuses, but the turnover was high,” Fleming said. “If you look at our squad, when we first put it all together, it was very strong with South African bowling and overseas batting but it’s not the only reason. You do have to adapt. It is part of franchise cricket. But we just weren’t able to settle enough. I take some responsibility with that as well as we’re trying to find the team that’s going to take us forward: the right batting order. So we were chopping and changing and the whole thing just felt a little bit confusing. We just weren’t good enough.”