SA20 | Twitter reacts as Pooran-Smuts fireworks blow Sunrisers out of the water for huge Super Giants win

SA20 | Twitter reacts as Pooran-Smuts fireworks blow Sunrisers out of the water for huge Super Giants win

SportsCafe Desk

By SportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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Jon-Jon Smuts came back to haunt his former team Sunrisers Eastern Cape in Gqeberha on Saturday as fifties from him and Nicholas Pooran propelled Durban's Super Giants to 225/3. The hosts got off to a slow start in the chase and were left playing catchup throughout, ultimately losing by 35 runs.

Having opted to bat first, the Super Giants got off to a breezy start with both openers Quinton de Kock and Mathew Breetzke dealing in boundaries. The former eventually succumbed to a soft dismissal in the last over of the powerplay to leave the score reading 58/1. The Sunrisers took advantage of the scalp to rein back the scoring rate and Matthew Breetzke holing out for 43 at the midway stage seemed to be the cherry on top. However, JJ Smuts combined with Nicholas Pooran thereon to completely take the game away from the hosts with an exhibition of monstrous big hitting and piercing the gaps. The former registered his half-century off just 29 deliveries and was bettered to the mark by the Caribbean dynamo, the two stitching together a 100-run stand at exactly two runs-a-ball from a starting point of 85/2. Smuts eventually departed for a 38-ball 75 in the 18th over, only for Heinrich Klaasen to hit a boundary and a maximum in his six-ball cameo for good measure. Pooran remained unbeaten on 60 off 31 balls to help the visitors post a total of 225/3, 88 runs of which came in the last seven overs.

In response, Eastern Cape lost both their openers for single digits en route to a sluggish powerplay score of 39/2. Nevertheless, Aiden Markram and Tom Abell got the chase back on track with a formidable 93-run third-wicket stand, the duo going pedal to the metal around the midway stage. Desperate to break the partnership, skipper Keshav Maharaj called upon the part-time spin of Smuts, and the 35-year-old obliged by first cleaning up his former captain Markram for 29 before lighting up Marco Jansen's bails in the 14th over. To add to the misery, Maharaj himself ended Abell's brilliant 36-ball knock of 65 in between the two blows to effectively put the game beyond consideration with 97 needed off the last six overs. Tristan Stubbs struck some lusty blows in the death to register a 25-ball half-century and deny the opposition a bonus point. His knock included a controversial moment when he collided with Reece Topley in the 18th over while attempting a run but DSG paid no heed to it and ran out Beyers Swanepoel at the other end. Stubbs ultimately departed for 55 in the final over and SEC ended on 190/9, 35 runs short of the target.

Tristan in trouble

She looks sad

Unbelievable effort

He is so good

Reminding good old days

Huge Contribution

Losing the chase

Love to hear that

HE needs to show up

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