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Sunrisers duo Bairstow and De Kock destroy Capitals in run chase

05 January 2026 18:51| © MWP
By:Antoinette Muller
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A top order batting masterclass from Jonny Bairstow and Quinton de Kock powered Sunrisers Eastern Cape to a monstrous 10-wicket bonus-point win over Pretoria Capitals in their Betway SA20 clash at Centurion on Monday night.

The pair blew the home bowling attack to smithereens in their pursuit of a modest 177 target under the lights in front of a stunned full house on the Highveld.

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It was a third win of the campaign for the visiting side, putting them right in the mix at the top of the log, but a damaging third defeat for the hosts, with both teams having their matches washed out last weekend.

Admittedly, there was precious little justice for the Capitals with the ball early on in the Sunrisers reply to their 176/7.

De Kock (79 off 41 balls) twice edged through the slips either side of a skied drive that Andre Russell narrowly failed to hunt down one-handed at deep cover.

But Bairstow (85 off 45) picked out a pair of vicious off drives to find his stride, before De Kock twice launched Lungi Ngidi out of the park as the 50 came up inside five increasingly dominant overs.

Bairstow greeted Andre Russell’s first ball with a glorious straight drive for four, then swatting him one-handed through midwicket and over the top of cover to leave Sunrisers 66/0 at the end of the powerplay.

Lizaad Williams was next to cop it, with maximums for first De Kock then Bairstow in the ninth, before the pair brought up the team and partnership 100 off captain Keshav Maharaj.

De Kock was first to bring up his half century, his second of this season’s competition, off just 29 balls, before celebrating by lifting Wihan Lubbe away on to the grass bank.

Bairstow joined him the next ball, clattering Maharaj into the chalet roofs before unleashing a pair of almighty heaves into the Pavilion.

The ironic boos that greeted the fourth ball, which only went for four, told you everything about the match situation.

And Bairstow soon fixed that, walloping his fourth and fifth sixes straight back down the ground to bring up the 150 in sizzling fashion, with a monstrous 34 coming from the over.

The rest was a cakewalk, with De Kock hoisting Tymal Mills away over midwicket to bring the scores level before nudging down the ground for an incredible victory.

FAILING TO CAPITALISE

Earlier, Capitals skipper Maharaj had earlier sprung a minor surprise by going against the received wisdom and batting first on winning the toss.

Earlier, Anrich Nortje (3-32) and Adam Milne (2-36) led the way for the Sunrisers with their four overs apiece, while Lewis Gregory conceded just 18 runs from his stint, restricting the Capitals to 176/7.

Connor Esterhuizen was the big plus for the home side, promoted to the top of the order and striking 52 from just 33 balls in front of a packed home crowd.

But their dangerous middle order strikers couldn’t capitalise on the platform, with Shai Hope, Brevis and debutant Russell all failing to get beyond single figures.

Instead it took some late slugging from their third West Indian, Sherfane Rutherford (47 not out off 22), to push them towards what still proved to be well short of a competitive total.

PRETORIA CAPITALS: Connor Esterhuizen, Bryce Parsons, Shai Hope (wk), Wihan Lubbe, Dewald Brevis, Sherfane Rutherford, Andre Russell, Keshav Maharaj (capt), Lizaad Williams, Tymal Mills, Lungi Ngidi.

SUNRISERS EASTERN CAPE: Quinton de Kock (wk), Jonny Bairstow, Matthew Breetzke, Jordan Hermann, Tristan Stubbs (capt), Marco Jansen, Senuran Muthusamy, Lewis Gregory, Anrich Nortje, Adam Milne, Lutho Sipamla.

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