All-round Coles, Muthusamy put Sunrisers Eastern Cape in fourth SA20 final

Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SEC) will have a crack at their third SA20 title after making their fourth final in as many seasons seasons since the inception of the league in 2023. Having lost Qualifier 1 to Pretoria Capitals, SEC will meet them again in the final on Sunday in Cape Town after knocking Paarl Royals (PR) out in Qualifier 2 on Friday.

Left-arm spinners Senuran Muthusamy and James Coles asphyxiated PR on a dry Wanderers pitch that offered plenty of turn, and some variable bounce. While Muthusamy claimed 3 for 15 in his four overs, Coles came away with 1 for 15 in his quota, including a maiden. Wicketkeeper-opener Kyle Verreynne countered the conditions with an unbeaten half-century, and dragged PR to 114 for 7.

It wasn't competitive, though PR struck three times in the powerplay. But eventually, SEC completed the chase with seven wickets and 50 balls to spare. After impressing with the ball, Coles also contributed handsomely with the bat, remaining unbeaten on 45 off 19 balls.

After PR opted to bat, Lutho Sipamla, who had replaced Lewis Gregory, struck in the second over to remove Lhuan-dre Pretorius for 3 off eight balls. Anrich Nortje then drew a top edge from Rubin Hermann with a short ball that held up in the pitch. Muthusamy then combined superbly with Coles to wreck PR's middle order.

After having both Asa Tribe and Sikandar Raza stumped, Muthusamy sent Rovman Powell, who had replaced the injured David Miller, packing for 1 in the 15th over. Earlier, in the last over of the powerplay, Dan Lawrence, the stand-in captain, had spooned Coles to short cover for 4.

SEC have always been big on left-arm spin in the SA20. Muthusamy and Coles followed the footsteps of Roelof van der Merwe and Liam Dawson, and also found assistance from Chris Green. The spinners had combined figures of 10-1-47-4 on Friday.

The spin dominance meant PR had to search for runs elsewhere. Verreynne batted through the 20 overs, scoring 52 off 46 balls, of which 27 came off seamers Nortje and Marco Jansen. He had reached his half-century off 41 balls after popping a Jansen slower ball over short fine leg.

Verreynne was more calculative against spin, playing with the turn, and with a straight bat on a difficult track. After PR went nearly eight overs without a boundary, Verreynne ended the drought in the 13th over when he manufactured swinging room, and pumped Coles over extra-cover for six. PR would hit only one more six in their innings.

In the chase, SEC showed attacking intent against the hard, new ball, something that PR had failed to do in the first innings. Quinton de Kock crashed Bjorn Fortuin for three fours in the first over, and then took Hardus Viljoen for a brace of sixes and a four in the second, before he was castled by Fortuin for 25 off 12 balls. In the same over, Fortuin trapped Johnny Bairstow lbw with a similar slider that didn't turn.

Jordan Hermann made 17 off 18 balls before Ottneil Baartman had the batter miscuing a catch to mid-off. However, by the end of the powerplay, SEC had shaved 56 runs off their small target.

Coles then made the target look even smaller with a barrage of boundaries. He rushed SEC to victory by taking part-timers Lawrence and Pretorius for 25 off seven balls.

The conditions at Wanderers had also changed drastically. According to a graphic on the host broadcast, PR's spinners generated only 1.8 degrees of average turn in comparison to SEC's hair-raising 5.1 degrees of average turn in the first innings.

Coles finished the job with a mighty six, showing everyone why coach Adi Birrell, who has also worked with him at Southern Brave in the Hundred, rates him highly.