The SEC meet JSK at 5:30 pm today, 14 January 2025 in Match 24 of the SA20 series.
Sunrisers Eastern Cape became the first team to secure their place in the Betway SA20 Season 4 playoffs with a resounding 63-run bonus point victory over Joburg Super Kings at St George’s Park on Wednesday evening.
Sunrisers have reclaimed top position with 24 points, while JSK remain in fourth place on 17 points. The result also ensured that Durban’s Super Giants remain in contention for a playoff spot ahead of their final game against Paarl Royals at Kingsmead on Saturday.
Sunrisers debutant James Coles led the way with the bat, with an unbeaten 61 (34 balls, 10×4) before the 21-year-old took over with the ball, with figures of 2/34 from his four overs, to cap a dream first outing in front of The Orange Army.
Stubbs and James Coles’s 88-run partnership is SEC’s highest for the 5th wicket in T20s, breaking the record of 87 between Stubbs and Marco Jansen.
The home side had Joburg Super Kings, who without their regular captain Faf du Plessis due to injury for the first time, in a spin throughout with fellow left-armer Senuran Muthusamy delivering an equally classy spell of 3/26.
The Sunrisers spin duo were responsible for all of the first six Super Kings wickets to fall – bar a fantastic run out that Coles was also involved in.
Super Kings had been set a challenging 179 for victory – the identical total Durban’s Super Giants overhauled just a few days ago here at St George’s Park – but apart from a brisk 31-run opening stand in 3.3 overs between James Vince (30 off 23 balls) and Rivaldo Moonsamy – the visitors were never able to keep up with the required run-rate.
With Coles and Muthusamy tightening the noose and wickets falling regularly, the run-rate escalated to beyond 10 runs per over, and that was simply too much for the inexperienced JSK middle to chase down with pacers Adam Milne (1/10), Anrich Nortje (1/13) and Marco Jansen (2/33) maintaining the pressure.
Sunrisers, who had been inserted by JSK, were again indebted to the in-form Quinton de Kock, who powered his way to 54 from just 37 deliveries (5×4, 2×6). It was De Kock’s third half-century of the campaign as he and Jonny Bairstow raced out of the blocks with a 48-run opening stand in 4.4 overs.
There was a couple of blips from thereon with the Sunrisers losing wickets in clusters to be placed at 90/4 heading into the second half of the innings, but captain Tristan Stubbs and Coles steadied the ship before exploding at the death with a match-winning 88-run partnership off 55 balls.
Imran Tahir needs 5 wickets to become the highest wicket-taker for JSK in T20s.
The SEC Match Results to today:
- Saturday, 27 December 2025, MATCH 3: Sunrisers Eastern Cape win by 137 runs against Paarl Royals at Boland Park
- Monday, 29 December 2025, MATCH 5: Sunrisers Eastern Cape win by 48 runs against Pretoria Capitals at St Georges Park
- Wednesday, 31 December 2025, Match 7: Paarl Royals win by 5 wickets at St Georges Park
- Saturday, 3 January 2026, Match 11: No Result against Joburg Super Kings at Wanderers
- Monday, 5 January 2026, MATCH 14: Sunrisers Eastern Cape win by 10 wickets against Pretoria Capitals in Centurion
- Friday, 9 January 2026, MATCH 18: Match Abandoned without a ball bowled against Durban’s Super Giants at Kingsmead
- Sunday, 11 January 2026, MATCH 21: Durban’s Super Giants win by 2 wickets at St Georges Park
The Sunrisers overall standings have taken a beating – from first to third – so the team has everything to play for in their second last home game of the playoffs this evening.
Standings as at 14 January:
- Pretoria Capitals – 20
- Paarl Royals – 19
- Sunrisers Eastern Cape – 19
- Joburg Super Kings – 17
- Durban’s Super Giants – 14
- MI Cape Town – 10
Squads:
Sunrisers Eastern Cape:
Tristan Stubbs (c) – Batter Jonny Bairstow – Wicketkeeper Batter Matthew Breetzke – Batter James Coles – Allrounder Quinton de Kock – Wicketkeeper Batter AM Ghazanfar – Bowler Lewis Gregory – Allrounder Jordan Hermann – Middle order Batter Marco Jansen – Bowling Allrounder JP King – Allrounder Christopher King – Bowler Patrick Kruger – Batting Allrounder Adam Milne – Bowler Senuran Muthusamy – Batting Allrounder Anrich Nortje – Bowler Tharindu Ratnayake – Bowling Allrounder Lutho Sipamla – Bowler Beyers Swanepoel- Allrounder Mitchell Van Buuren – Middle order Batter Chris Wood – Bowler
Joburg Super Kings:
Faf du Plessis (c) – Middle order Batter Nandre Burger – Bowler Matthew de Villiers – Batter Donovan Ferreira – Allrounder Dian Forrester – Batting Allrounder Richard Gleeson – Bowler Akeal Hosein – Bowler Imran Tahir – Bowler Janco Smit – Bowler Duan Jansen – Bowler Rivaldo Moonsamy – Batter Wiaan Mulder – Allrounder Michael Pepper † – Wicketkeeper Batter Steve Stolk – Batter Prenelan Subrayen – Allrounder Neil Timmers – Batter Reece Topley – Bowler James Vince – Batter Daniel Worrall – Bowler
Match Officials:
Umpires: Adrian Holdstock and Arno Jacobs. TV Umpire: Lauren Agenbag. Reserve Umpire: Andre Olivier. Match Referee: Shandre Fritz
