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Sunrisers Eastern Cape delivered a commanding performance that not only secured the two-time champions' place at the top of the SA20 table but also dashed MI Cape Town's Season 4 Playoffs aspirations, edging them out by seven wickets in a thrilling contest at St George's Park on Sunday.
MI Cape Town required a bonus point victory to stay in contention, but now the final playoff place on offer will be a straight shootout between Joburg Super Kings and Durban's Super Giants. DSG's hopes are hinging on JSK losing to Paarl Royals at Boland Park on Monday. A victory for JSK will see DSG eliminated, according to the SA20 website. The Royals can still overtake the Sunrisers at the top of the table should they beat JSK, but Adrian Birrell's side have secured their place in Qualifier 1 at Kingsmead on Wednesday, as they can no longer finish outside the top two in the final Betway SA20 standings. The seven-wicket victory was the perfect sendoff for the Orange Army, as the unofficial 12th man had once again come out in their thousands for the fifth game in succession to support the local team. They were not disappointed with new Australian import Chris Green delivering an excellent performance with the ball on his Sunrisers debut. The off-spinner, who was born in South Africa, made the most of the spin-friendly conditions to finish with 3/29. He was ably supported by off-spinner James Coles (1/17) as the Sunrisers limited MI Cape Town to 148/6. Reeza Hendricks was the cornerstone of MI Cape Town's innings with an undefeated 70 (44 balls, 8x4, 1x6), and George Linde struck a quickfire 30 off 17 balls (4x6), but they needed much more to push for the bonus point win. Sunrisers' chase centred around Quinton de Kock (56 off 49 balls, 6x4, 2x6) once again, with the in-form opener sharing a 109-run partnership for the second wicket with Matthew Breetzke (66 off 55 balls, 8x4). Both departed with victory in sight to create tension all around the ground, but Jordan Hermann held his nerve to hit the winning runs off the penultimate ball of the match to send St George's Park into seventh heaven. (ANI)
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