The SEC duo have been integral to their season revival after starting with three consecutive defeats
The Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SEC) are in the final of the SA20, again. For the third season in a row. No matter how convincing they are or not in the group stages, they have developed a knack to rise to reach the summit clash.
They began the tournament with a capitulation against Saturday’s finalists MI Cape Town (MICT) as they were bundled out for 77 runs. Paarl Royals and Durban Capitals poured the tar and feathers, making it three defeats in a row. Under the influential captaincy of Aiden Markram, who has gone to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the allround prowess of new Punjab Kings recruit Marco Jansen, SEC notched up four wins a row to secure a place in the playoffs. It was like the old saying of ‘Fortune favours the brave’ as they finished third in the table even after losing two of their last three group games.
Whenever the SEC needed inspiration, Markram led from the front. After the opening day loss to MICT, they needed some push against Paarl Royals. Markram took the ailing the batting from 69/3 in 9 overs to 171/3 by 19.1 overs with a blistering 82 off 49 balls. It wasn’t a swashbuckling knock by any means, but definitely the right amount of effective.
In the next two games he was out for a duck, but when SEC found themselves at 53/5 after 10 over against Pretoria Capitals, Markram smashed five fours and two sixes in his unbeaten 68 off 55 balls to take them to 184/6 in 20 overs. It was his protective instinct that kicks in when his team is cornered.
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The pattern stayed consistent throughout the season. Markram was out for a duck three times, perished for less than 20 runs on three occasions but still he is the tournament’s third highest run scorer with 334 runs from 12 innings with an average of 41. In the Qualifier 2 against Paarl Royals on Thursday, he was yet again instrumental.
Jansen’s reputation as a pacer within South Africa became apparent when he burst on to the scene in 2021. For the last three years, his batting abilities are getting the praise and deservedly so. The youngster’s allround abilities with Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2023 were just a glimpse of what he had to offer in the SA20 with their sister franchise.
He has a half century across all three editions of the tournament and his tally of 199 runs and tournament-topping 17 wickets this season might just be the start of a peak 2025.
Jansen’s accumulation of wickets hasn’t been a cluster of big patches. He has consistently picked up 2-3 wickets while maintaining an economy under 7. Only against Pretoria Capitals was he offered wickets on a platter and he made it count with 4-13. When asked about Jansen’s secret to get fired up before every game, Markram revealed something interesting.
“He eats a triple-decker pizza before every game on the bus. And a Coke. That’s not a joke,” captain Markram said after the 24-year-old’s knock of 23 off 12 balls in the Eliminator against Joburg Super Kings.
Markram’s presence in the Lucknow Super Giants dressing room is a huge asset going into IPL 2025. On top of that, Markram has played all across the batting order in his career from opening to No.6 according to the team’s needs. Even though his strike rate is south of 140, there are very few who can stabilize the batting like Markram. Even if LSG captain Rishabh Pant doesn’t open the innings, they have an option in Markram who has done it in 39 matches and scored 1004 runs at a strike rate of 128.
Punjab Kings, with the largest money purse at the IPL 2025 auction, splurged INR 7 crore on Jansen and so far it is proving to be a justified purchase. He is great with the new ball, can bowl superb cutters at the death and get wickets at the right time.
However, Punjab coach Ricky Ponting needs to tweak his batting order to amplify Jansen’s excellent striking ability. SRH have always played Jansen between No.6 and No.8 which yielded few flashes of brilliance with the bat.
However, he has gotten his three fifties in SA20 while batting at No.5 and No.6. Promoting the 24-year-old in the batting order for 4-5 matches might just make a difference for the team who hasn’t reached the playoffs for 10 straight years.
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