Sunrisers Eastern Cape 188 for 6 (de Kock 77, Breetzke 52, Hermann 37, Mills 2-31) beat Pretoria Capitals 140 (Hope 36, Smeed 35, Milne 4-25, Ratnayake 2-15) by 48 runs
De Kock, Breetzke add 116
After Ngidi dismissed Jonny Bairstow in the second over, de Kock and Breetzke dominated for almost 12 overs. By the end of the powerplay, SEC had 64 runs on the board and had hit five sixes. Four of them had come off de Kock’s bat, one of which stood out for its grace. Off the second ball of the fourth over, de Kock leaned into a length delivery wide of off stump from Ngidi and effortlessly lofted it over mid-off.
De Kock reached his fifty off 29 balls in the eighth over, even as Breetzke took his time at the other end. But from 25 off 20 at one stage, Breetzke thumped 27 off his next 13 balls to get to his half-century in 30 deliveries. By the time de Kock was stumped off Bryce Parsons in the 14th over for 77 off 47 balls, SEC looked set for a huge total.
PC limit the damage despite Hermann cameo
Milne trumps Hope and Smeed
Lewis Gregory then had Dewald Brevis caught at wide long-on in the eighth over. Smeed, though, looked in control just over the halfway mark, only for Muthusamy to get him with a beauty. The ball drifted in and dipped onto a length on leg stump, and turned and bounced enough to hit the top of middle. Smeed departed for 35, and the others followed.
Milne bowled Connor Esterhuizen off another slower ball in the 13th over, and a mix-up with Sherfane Rutherford resulted in Lubbe’s run-out. Milne got two more wickets – both in the 17th over – when he had Keshav Maharaj and Rutherford caught. With the match going out of PC’s hands with every passing wicket, Rutherford was their only hope for a miracle. But he only managed 25 off 19 balls, having been left with too much to do.