Rossington, van der Merwe lead Sunrisers Eastern Cape to SA20 title

Sunrisers Eastern Cape 137 for 6 (Rossington 57, Nortje 2-21) beat Pretoria Capitals 135 (Mendis 21, van der Merwe 4-31, Baartman 2-22) by four wickets
Full scorecard

Roelof van der Merwe carved up Pretoria Capitals' batting line-up with figures of 4 for 31 to help dismiss them for 135 and set up Sunrisers Eastern Cape's title victory in the inaugural edition of the SA20.

In pursuit of 136, Sunrisers dashed out of the blocks, with wicketkeeper-opener Adam Rossington smashing a 20-ball half-century in the powerplay. In all, Sunrisers racked up 76 for 1 in the first six overs, and, despite a late wobble, there was no way back for Capitals from there.

Capitals were also similarly swift during their powerplay, scoring 56, although they lost both their openers - Phil Salt and Kusal Mendis - in that phase. The Wanderers pitch then slowed down, and so did Capitals' innings. Van der Merwe and his captain Aiden Markram were chiefly responsible for Capitals' slowdown, finding substantial grip and turn on a two-paced track.

After removing Salt and Theunis de Bruyn on either side of the powerplay, van der Merwe returned in the death to finish his shift with back-to-back wickets of Eathan Bosch and Migael Pretorius, the inch-perfect leg-stump yorker to Pretorius being a contender for the ball of the innings. Markram had just one wicket to show for, but was the most economical bowler on the day for his side, giving away only 17 runs from his four overs. Seamers Sisanda Magala and Ottniel Baartman picked up two wickets apiece to back up the spinners. Having been inserted, Capitals were eventually dismissed with three balls unused in their innings.

The target appeared a whole lot smaller when Rossington teed off in the early exchanges of the chase. He capped the powerplay with a stunning sequence of 6, 4, 0, 6, 6, 4 off Pretorius. Rossington added 67 for the second wicket with Jordan Hermann before Adil Rashid had Hermann stumped for 22 with a wrong'un. Fast bowler Anrich Nortje then bounced Rossington out for 57 off 30 balls, and Markram holed out with Sunrisers 23 away from victory. Jordan Cox's dismissal was also part of the late wobble, but  Marco Jansen got the job done along with No. 8 Brydon Carse.