It was the Jordan Hermann show in the SA20 on Tuesday evening, as the youngster scored his maiden century to steer his side, the Eastern Cape Sunrisers, to a nervy 4-run win against MI Cape Town at the Newlands Cricket Ground.

The Sunrisers entered the match winless after a 35-run defeat at the hands of the Durban Super Giants over the weekend, while their opening match against the Joburg Super Kings was rained out in Gqeberha.

Looking to get off the mark against a confident MI Cape Town outfit, the defending champions won the toss and chose to bat first. That decision proved to be effective, as they bossed the home side’s bowling attack for the first 13 overs.

The opening pair of Dawid Malan and Hermann scored 138 runs for the opening stand, runs which turned out to be vital, as the side ended up posting 202/2 in their allotted 20 overs.

The star of the show was undoubtedly Hermann, who calmly made his way to his T20 career best of just 59 balls.

Malan, alongside him, was also influential, scoring his maiden half-century for the Sunrisers on debut before he was dismissed by MI Cape Town skipper, Kieron Pollard.

Hermann remained untouchable, and despite anxious moments, still managed to finish the full innings with his wicket intact.

“Honestly, I just thought I have to hit as many runs as I could,” he said.

“I thought the batters coming in, Aiden Markram, Marco Jansen, and Tristan Stubbs, didn’t have a lot to lose so I just tried to get as much as I could, and when I looked up and I was close to the 90s I thought, how did I get here.

“It’s very special, and I’m just grateful we ended up on the winning side otherwise it would’ve been pointless.”

The 22-year-old domestically plays for the Warriors at St Georges Park in Gqeberha, home ground of SEC. The only difference in the SA20 is that he’s surrounded by South African and International trialed and tested players.

The youngster has described the environment in the team as “incredible,” with experienced players like skipper Aiden Markram always willing to lend a helping hand.

“It’s incredible. I think our social media team is unbelievable and they still don’t do justice to how good our team environment is,” he added.

“You can only hope to be in an environment like that, especially as a youngster – it’s unbelievable learnings, and the people around us in the team are incredible people.

“Credit to Adrian Birrell for getting a team together that has good people and good cricketers, I think we gel now and that’s probably the most important part of our success.”

The Sunrisers will be in search of their second win on Saturday when they take on the in-form Durban Super Giants at Kingsmead.

Hermann says they will need to quickly move on from the win against MI Cape Town and focus on the next hurdle.

“We’re going to take confidence from the win and getting points on the board.

“Positives we take from the game include our bowling and batting – but yeah the game is gone, it’s parked now, it’s a new challenge coming next.”