• De Kock, Breetzke set up Sunrisers win

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    A formidable partnership between Quinton de Kock and Matthew Breetzke spearheaded the Sunrisers Eastern Cape’s bonus-point win over the Pretoria Capitals at St George’s Park on Monday.

    The 48-run victory propelled the Sunrisers to top of the SA20 table with 10 points, while the Capitals remain winless after two matches.

    De Kock gave the crowd plenty to cheer for with the left-hander smashing 77 off just 47 balls (five fours, six sixes). The Proteas opener struck the ball sweetly from the outset with a couple of rasping lofted cover drives interspersed with powerful pull shots.

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    Matthew Breetzke scored 52 off 33 balls (seven fours, one six), and was the perfect partner for De Kock after the early demise of Jonny Bairstow, with the pair putting together an electrifying 116-run partnership off just 70 balls.

    This laid the platform for the in-form Jordan Hermann, who added 37 off 20 balls (five fours, one six) to unleash a series of conventional and reverse sweeps that pushed the Sunrisers to an impressive 188-6.

    The total proved way beyond the reach of the Capitals, with the Sunrisers unleashing their three-pronged pace arsenal of Marco Jansen, Adam Milne and Anrich Nortje.

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    Jansen required just six balls to strike the first blow when he removed Capitals opener Bryce Parsons with a rasping delivery that the left-hander could only fend off to De Kock behind the stumps.

    The Kiwi Express, Milne, was next in the act when he dismissed West Indian Shai Hope (36 off 19 balls) just as he threatened to build an innings of substance. Milne ended with figures of 4-25.

    The major breakthrough was left to Lewis Gregory when the Sunrisers all-rounder flummoxed Dewald Brevis (12 off five balls) into taking on the longest boundary in the ground where Breetzke lay in wait to take a comfortable catch.

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    The Capitals’ innings disintegrated from thereon with Milne running through the visitors’ tail, while left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy delivered the ball of the night to clean bowl a well-set Will Smeed. The visitors tail could not handle the chase as the Sunrisers earned a bonus-point win.

    Photo: Richard Huggard / Sportzpics for SA20

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    Dylan Johnson