Tristan Stubbs: 'Don't know what we did or how we did it, but we did it'

A beaming Tristan Stubbs said that he and Matthew Breetzke were "calm but we were probably panicking too" as the duo combined to hand Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SEC) their third SA20 title in four seasons.

"So stoked. Can't explain it," Stubbs said after SEC's six-wicket win against Pretoria Capitals in the final on Sunday. "I don't know what we did or how we did it, but just so much like we actually did it type thing. It was pretty awesome."

Chasing 159, SEC were down in the dumps at 48 for 4 in the ninth over. Captain Stubbs then joined forces with Breetzke, and the two never separated, adding an unbroken 114-run stand off 65 balls for the fifth wicket.

They took their time to settle in before taking off in a momentum-shifting 17th over. With SEC requiring 56 off 24 balls, Breetzke smashed Lizaad Williams for three fours. The two batters then took 21 runs off the 18th over to all but seal the deal for SEC.

"We know we bat so well together, and we kept looking for an over to just get momentum," Stubbs said. "Fortunately, that only came in the 16th [17th] over. Then we just ran with it from there. Funny things happen under pressure."

Stubbs has been part of SEC since the first season, but this was his first as captain, and he was instrumental in marshalling the troops. SEC topped the points table in the group stage, and while they fell short in Qualifier 1 against Capitals, they ensured they didn't repeat the same mistakes in the final.

"I've really enjoyed this month," he said. "I've had a great group to work with. We've planned really well for games. The bowlers are really experienced, so it's been easy. Me and Quinny [Quinton de Kock] have had this great thing going where we channelled a lot of the bowling changes. It's been a whole team effort. The senior players have been awesome. It's awesome to finish like this."

De Kock played a key role in SEC's winning campaign, finishing as the top run-getter for the tournament, with 390 runs in 11 innings. Having made a U-turn on his ODI retirement in September last year, de Kock said that he is now "happy to be playing cricket for my country".

"My two-year retirement did me well," de Kock, who was named Player of the Tournament, said. "I am happy to be back and happy to be playing cricket for my country, supporting everyone, and scoring as many runs as I can.

"After the auction, we knew we had a great team on and off the field. Great bunch of boys, and we fought really hard for this trophy. Some of the youngsters showed some big grit. We saw today that it is hard to play those sort of innings in a final, and they did it, and I am very happy for them."

Keshav Maharaj, the Capitals captain, on the other hand, rued missed chances but said he will take a lot of inspiration from this defeat, and learn from the mistakes.

"It has been a topsy-turvy season, but we feel the hurt of coming so close, yet so far," he said. "It's a could've, should've, would've type of situation. The boys will hurt for a bit. This just proves that T20 cricket you can never take for granted. It's not over till it's over.

"I am not someone who dwells on the negative. Last eight games, we won five, so we can draw a lot of inspiration from that. In pressure games, in games we needed to win, we found a way to win. Lots of inspiration to be drawn. We have to rectify the mistakes if we want to compete with the best and win trophies as a unit."