Aiden Markram, who came in when his side were at 10-2 wickets, showed his class by scoring 100 runs off 58 balls to help SEC claim a final spot.

As clichẻ as this may sound, I honestly felt so blessed to see Aiden Markram play such a magnificent innings today.  

Markram, who came in when his side were at 10-2 wickets, showed his class by scoring 100 runs off 58 balls. Markram rotated the strike really well (particularly with Jordan Hermann), and by the time Tristan Stubbs came in and played aggressive strokes when it was required from him. Markram also showed great leadership qualities in keeping his other partners calm once he got out and this was evident after Jordan Hermann got run out.

Jordan Hermann also made a great contribution for his 48 runs off 36 balls. He played really well by playing a few drives past point as well as playing a few good pull shots. Like Markram, he also rotated the strike really well. AB De Villers noted on commentary that he has been really impressed with his performances throughout the tournament and it is hard to see how anyone could disagree.

Although the Sunrisers accelerated at the appropriate time, I felt that the Super Kings also bowled very poorly towards the back end of the innings. Unfortunately, they enabled the Sunrisers to get 213 runs for 5 wickets down by bowling 15 extras. Many commentators remarked that they did not bowl enough back of a length deliveries after Lizaad Williams got Bavuma with a great bumper and a ball that moved away (Lizaad Williams ended up with figures of 4 wickets for 36 runs). Understandably, the Super Kings coach angrily walked off the field after Gerald Coetzee conceded 27 runs in his final over.

At the start of the Joburg Super Kings innings, I did not understand the strategy of sending Gerald Coetzee in to open. Although he hit one six (the first one he hit did not count as it hit the spider cam and was a dead ball), he faced too many deliveries with scoring too little runs which resulted in the run rate increasing significantly. 

In terms of the star performers from the Joburg Super Kings, I thought that Reeza Hendricks played an outstanding knock for his knock of 96 runs off 54 balls. Reeza manipulated the field really well and I felt that he was extremely unlucky to not get his 100 by getting caught on the boundary.

In terms of the bowling from the Sunrisers Eastern Cape, I felt that Roelof Van Der Merwe bowled extremely well to get his 2 wickets for 23 runs off his four over spell. Sisanda Magala and Marco Jansen bowled well up front, however, both of them leaked runs during the middle and end of their spells which allowed Reeza Hendricks to take them on. 

Other notable contributions from the Super Kings included Donovan Ferreira scoring 20 runs off 9 balls where he got caught by Temba Bavuma on the boundary off Roelof Van Der Merwe’s bowling. Romario Shephard also blitzed the Sunrisers bowling attack by scoring 38 runs off 14 balls (not out).

The only slight criticism that I have of the Sunrisersbowling performance is that they bowled too many balls in the slot at the back end of the innings which allowed Reeza Hendricks, Romario Shephard and Donovan Ferreira to score boundaries too easily. Ab De Villersmentioned that he felt that the attack wasn’t bowling enough Yorkers which was allowing the Super Kings to get back in the game.

Congratulations to the Sunrisers reaching the final and I hope that all the spectators enjoy a thrilling match on Saturday at the Wanderers between the Capitals and the Sunrisers J.