Sunrisers Eastern Cape win toss and bowl in tournament opnener

Sunrisers Eastern Cape captain Aidan Markram won the toss and chose to bowl first in the opening match of the Betway SA20 at St George’s Park in Gqeberha on Thursday evening.

The home side and defending champions have four Englishmen in their starting XI as well as test stars Markram, David Bedingham, Marco Jansen and Tristan Stubbs who makes a rare return to the wicketkeeper’s role.

Zak Crawley opens the batting with Tom Abell at No 3 with spinner allrounder Liam Dawson and fast bowler Richard Gleeson completing the overseas quartet.

MI Cape Town are captained by Rashid Khan with Afghan allrounder Azmatullah Omarzai and New Zealand seamer Trent Boult complementing a team of familiar local names.

SUNRISERS EASTERN CAPE: Jordan Hermann, Zak Crawley, Tom Abell, Aiden Markram(c), Tristan Stubbs(w), David Bedingham, Beyers Swanepoel, Marco Jansen, Liam Dawson, Simon Harmer, Richard Gleeson

MI CAPE TOWN: Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, Dewald Brevis, Colin Ingram, Connor Esterhuizen(w), Delano Potgieter, Azmatullah Omarzai, George Linde, Rashid Khan(c), Corbin Bosch, Trent Boult