Sunrisers Eastern Cape secured their third successive victory to climb up to the second spot in the SA20 standings courtesy of a tight bowling performance that saw them restrict Paarl Royal to just 127 for 7. They then chased that total down with relative ease for a five-wicket victory in the 14th match of the tournament in Boland Park, Paarl.
During the 2nd innings, Royals’ bowler Bjorn Fortuin took three wickets in the same over. On the first bowl of the 13th over, Fortuin cleaned up Aiden Markram, then, on the 4th ball, he dismissed Jordan Hermann and got his second wicket of the over. He continued his brilliance and bowled Jordan Cox on the 5th delivery.
Watch the video here:
Bjorn Fortuin takes three wickets in five balls! #SA20 #PRvSEC pic.twitter.com/s3mjIksHXS
— SA Cricket magazine (@SACricketmag) January 19, 2023
A brilliant all-round performance by Sunrisers Eastern Cape
Talking about the match, asked to bat first, the Royals were rocked early as both Jason Roy and Jos Buttler were sent packing by the third over with just 18 runs on the board. Wihan Lubbe, who scored a half-century in his team’s previous win, attempted to quickly revive the innings in the company of Corbin Bosch, but they could only push for it until the eighth over.
Right-arm pacer Brydon Carse cleaned up Lubbe and exposed the home side to a middle-overs wobble. And wobble they did, as they went from 58 for 2 in the eighth over to 96 for 7 in the 16th. The spin duo of skipper Markram and Roelof van der Merwe did the damage, picking two wickets each and only conceding 21 runs in their 4 overs, respectively. This took the Royals to a below-par total in 20 overs.
Chasing the target, Sunrisers’ openers Adam Rossington and Hermann smashed 34 runs inside the first four overs but Lungi Ngidi picked two wickets off successive deliveries to give his side some hope of a fight. Hermann however, resisted that attempt in the company of Markram, who made a valuable run-a-ball 23. The pair added 57 runs to take the team another step closer to a straightforward victory. Bjorn Fortuin delayed that by picking three wickets in the same over – 13th – but Marco Jansen (21* off 22) and Tristan Stubbs (18* off 12) took the team through to the win from 93 for 5.
