Published: January 6, 2026 at 1:45 pm
Sunrisers Eastern Cape stormed to their first-ever victory over Pretoria Capitals at the Centurion in Pretoria on Monday evening even as SA20 Season 4 is turning out to be the year of records.
Sunrisers completed their highest successful run-chase in SA20 history by cruising past Capitals’ 176/7 with all 10 wickets to spare. The win propelled Tristan Stubbs’ side back to the top of the table with 17 points. Capitals have won just one of their five matches so far and sit fifth, outside of the playoff spots, for now.
Openers Quinton de Kock (79 not out, 41 balls, 5×4, 6×6) and Jonny Bairstow (85 not out, 44 balls, 8×4, 6×6) were in a rampant mood as the experienced duo dispatched the Capitals’ bowlers to all parts of Centurion.
They were untroubled in the chase, barely offered a chance and blasted 13 fours and 12 sixes in their unbeaten opening stand, which is also SEC’s highest of the SA20 and the competition’s second-highest overall. Theirs is the first 10-wicket win in a full game in the SA20.
De Kock lit the touchpaper with the left-hander dominating the Powerplay, striking the ball sweetly over the cover region for a couple of sixes off Lungi Ngidi. He later dished out similar treatment to Lizaad Williams as the Sunrisers took control.
Sunrisers’ opener Jonny Bairstow treated Maharaj with disdain as he blasted five sixes and a boundary in the 12th over to smash 34 runs
Sunrisers’ opener Bairstow mauls Maharaj
Bairstow was initially content to watch De Kock take on the Capitals’ bowlers, but he soon switched gears when Capitals spinner Keshav Maharaj brought himself on in search of the breakthrough.
The former England World Cup winner treated Maharaj with disdain as he blasted five sixes and a boundary in the 12th over to smash 34 runs, which is now the most expensive over in Betway SA20 history. His first ball was hit onto the roof as Bairstow brought up fifty off 35 balls. The second was slog-swept over mid-wicket. The third went the same way and the fourth, in the same direction but along the ground. Maharaj tried to disguise his fifth ball, but Bairstow pounced and hit it over his head for six and then finished off with six more, straight down the ground. SEC went from needing 61 runs off nine overs to 27 from eight and a bonus point win was there for the taking.
The four Player of the Match candidates were Quinton de Kock, Connor Esterhuizen, Anrich Nortje and Sherfane Rutherford with the QDK winning 91.2% of the fan vote.
Sunrisers had earlier delivered a clinical bowling and catching display to limit the Capitals to a below-par total. Although new opener Connor Esterhuizen (52, 33 balls, 6×4, 2×6) and middle-order smasher Sherfane Rutherford (47 not out, 22 balls, 3×4, 4×6) bookended the innings, the Sunrisers never loosened their grip.
After two seasons as a fringe player for MI Cape Town, Esthuizen made the move closer to home on the Highveld for this edition of the SA20, but things didn’t start as well as he would have liked. His first three innings brought scores of 2, 9 and 0 and he was going slowly on 6 off the first eight balls he faced in this match. But then, in the last over of the powerplay, Lutho Sipamla veered onto Esterhuizen’s pads, and he picked it up and sent it over short fine for six. The next ball was pitched up on middle stump and got similar treatment, but squarer. Esterhuizen went on to take on Anrich’s Nortje’s short and full ball and then struck a hat-trick of fours off Marco Jansen, all through the covers, to sit on the cusp of half-century. He got there off 28 balls for his first fifty for Capitals.
Anrich Nortje lit up his former home ground with thunderbolts in excess of 150 km/h to claim 3/32, while Lewis Gregory was metronomical to finish with figures 1/18 off his four overs.
Adam Milne was also able to absorb a 22-run penultimate over to claim 2/36, which included the big wicket of Capitals new West Indian recruit Andre Russell.
It was courtesy of a spellbinding one-handed diving catch from Player of the Match De Kock, which underlined the Sunrisers’ supremacy on the night.
Brief scores: Pretoria Capitals 176/7 in 20 overs (Conner Esterhuizen 52, Wihan Lubbe 21, Sherfane Rutherford 47 no; Anrich Nortje 3/32, Adam Milne 2/36) lost to Sunrisers Eastern Cape 177 for no loss in 14.2 overs (Quinton de Kock 79 no, Jonny Bairstow 85 no).
