Mokoena’s fiery spell cripples Sunrisers as Royals dominate

Jordaan Hermann top-scored with 47 for the stuttering Sunrisers Eastern Cape as they reached a total of 149 all out after choosing to bat first in their SA20 match against the Paarl Royals at St.George’s Park on Wednesday afternoon.

The visitors claimed wickets at regular intervals with 19-year-old seamer Nqobani Mokoena much to the fore with an excellent 4-34 bowling at the top and bottom of the innings. Before this innings, the right-armer had a total of just three wickets in the T20 format.

Quinton de Kock (7) edged a drive in Mokoena’s first over to keeper Kyle Verreynne, and SEC captain Tristan Stubbs (17) pulled a Mokoena short ball hard and flat to deep square leg.

Englishman Jonny Bairstow blew hot at the top of the innings with 33 from 20 balls before miscuing a drive against Ottneil Baartman to Asa Tribe, who held a fine, diving catch, while Matthew Breetzke (13) provided a return catch to Delano Potgieter attempting a flick to the leg side.

Hermann’s fine 47 from (35 balls) ended with a missed sweep against Afghan mystery spinner Mujeeb-ur-Rahman (4-0-30-1), and Marco Jansen’s breezy 17 from nine balls was finished by another boundary catch by Tribe off Baartman (3-36).

Bjorn Fortuin had no wickets to show for fine control, but the left arm spinner can certainly claim a couple of ‘assists’ for his miserly 4-0-16-0 which included bowling the first over.

The home side are sitting pretty at the top of the log with 10 points from two bonus-point victories to open their campaign, including a monster 143-run thrashing of the Royals at Boland Park three days ago.

SUNRISERS EASTERN CAPE: Jonny Bairstow, Quinton de Kock (wkt), Matthew Breetzke, Jordan Hermann, Tristan Stubbs (captain), Marco Jansen, Lewis Gregory, Senuran Muthusamy, Anrich Nortje, Adam Milne, Tharindu Rathnayake

PAARL ROYALS: Asa Tribe, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Rubin Hermann, Kyle Verreynne (wkt), David Miller (captain), Keegan Lion-Cachet, Delano Potgieter, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Nqobani Mokoena, Bjorn Fortuin, Ottneil Baartman