Sunrisers put squeeze on Royals with final in sight

Sunrisers Eastern Cape need 114 to reach the final of the Betway SA20, after restricting Paarl Royals to 113/7 in their knockout clash on a devilish wicket in Johannesburg.

Senuran Muthusamy led the way at the Wanderers with 3-15 from his four overs, combining with James Coles (1-15) to suffocate the men in pink at the Bullring, putting Sunday’s Cape Town showpiece within reach.

Only Kyle Verreynne (52 not out off 45 balls) went beyond 19 with the bat, notching an unbeaten half-century to anchor an innings that never clicked into gear.

Royals captain Dan Lawrence won the toss, chose to bat first and almost instantly regretted it on a used pitch that offered unusually sharp turn and bounce from the off.

A disciplined start with the ball from Marco Jansen and Lutho Sipamla set the tone, with the skittish Lhuan-dre Pretorius dropped by the diving Muthusamy in the first over.

Sipamla struck first, coaxing Pretorius into an indecisive, one-handed drive that flew straight into the hands of captain Tristan Stubbs at mid-off.

It took 23 balls for the first boundary as Rubin Hermann drove through extra cover.

But he perished for 12 when he attempted to guide Anrich Nortje fine down the legside, only to sky a catch to the backtracking Sipamla at short fine leg.

And Lawrence lasted just three balls before fellow Englishman James Coles found his leading edge, with Matthew Breetzke at cover taking a simple catch.

That left the side from the Cape 31/3 at the end of the six-over powerplay and with precious little room for further error.

But that came in an instant when Asa Tribe overbalanced in trying to attack Muthusamy, as Quinton de Kock completed a sharp stumping.

They had only advanced to 43/4 by the halfway mark of their innings, with the Sunrisers squeezing the life out of Verreynne and Sikandar Raza.

But Verreynne finally broke the shackles when he went inside out to crash the excellent Coles over extra cover for the first six of the innings, leaving the left-arm spinner with figures of 1-15 from his four overs.

And Raza finally managed a successful shot in anger of his own when he deposited Chris Green into the crowd.

The Royals were finally getting somewhere but Raza (19 off 27 balls) brought his personal torment to an end when he charged Muthusamy, swinging and missing to give De Kock his second stumping.

It brought Rovman Powell to the crease on his first appearance of the competition.

But the experienced Jamaican lasted just two balls before Muthusamy found his reaching outside edge, with Jansen taking an impressive low grab at slip.

Verreynne stuck doggedly to his task and reached his 50 from 41 balls in the penultimate over, swatting down to the long leg boundary.

Bjorn Fortuin fell in the final over to an outstanding Jordan Hermaan catch in the deep, as the fielder tumbled forward to give Nortje his second wicket.

They managed to take 10 runs from the last over and scrapped to make a contest of it, but will have to be right on the money with the ball to stand a chance under the Bullring lights.

PAARL ROYALS: Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Rubin Hermann, Dan Lawrence (capt), Sikandar Raza, Asa Tribe, Rovman Powell, Bjorn Fortuin, Hardus Viljoen, Ottneil Baartman, Nqobani Mokoena.

SUNRISERS EASTERN CAPE: Quinton de Kock (wk), Jonny Bairstow, Jordan Hermann, Tristan Stubbs (capt), Marco Jansen, Chris Green, Matthew Breetzke, James Coles, Senuran Muthusamy, Anrich Nortje, Lutho Sipamla.