Anrich Nortje took 4-13 as the Sunrisers Eastern Cape crushed the Paarl Royals by 137 runs at Boland Park on Saturday.
The Sunrisers bowled the Royals out for 49 – the lowest ever score in the history of SA20 – to claim a bonus-point victory.
The battle of the Hermann brothers was comfortably won by Sunrisers’ Jordan, who struck 62* off just 28 balls to power the two-times champions to 186-4.
The left-hander bookended the Sunrisers’ innings by taking 22 runs off Delano Potgieter’s final over.
It was the perfect ending after Quinton de Kock (42 off 24 balls) and Jonny Bairstow (31 off 33) had provided the momentum upfront with a 66-run stand off only 50 balls.
The momentum was maintained by Matthew Breetzke (31 off 28) and Hermann (73 off 42) for the fourth wicket before the blitz at the death.
Jordan Hermann’s unbeaten 62 made him a contender for the Man of the Match award until Nortje got hold of the ball.
The Royals’ chase never got out of the starting blocks with the Sunrisers’ pacemen Marco Jansen (1-15 ), Adam Milne (2-17) and Nortje wreaking havoc in the powerplay to reduce the home team to 30-4.
Nortje, in particular, worked up a good head of steam in his SA20 comeback after “The Uitenhage Express” missed the last two seasons due to injury.
There was no way back from there for the Royals, who will have to regroup quickly ahead of the rematch against the Sunrisers at St George’s Park on New Year’s Eve.
Photo: Shaun Roy/Sportzpics
