Sunrisers E Cape win toss and bat

Sunrisers Eastern Cape captain, Aiden Markram, won the toss and chose to bat first in their SA20 match against the Paarl Royals at Boland Park in Paarl on Saturday afternoon.

It is the home side’s first match of the competition but they have the chance to put a second dent in the Sunrisers’ defence of their title following an embarrassing 97-run defeat to MI Cape Town in the opening fixture in which they were dismissed for just 77.

Former England captain Joe Root makes his debut for the Royals as an opener and is joined by countryman Sam Hain. Veteran Indian wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik also makes his debut while the Sunrisers made one change with seamer Ottneil Baartman replacing allrounder Beyers Swanepoel.

PAARL ROYALS: Joe Root, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Sam Hain, Mitchell Van Buuren, David Miller (captain), Dinesh Karthik (wkt), Dayyaan Galiem, Bjorn Fortuin, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Kwena Maphaka, Lungi Ngidi

SUNRISERS EASTERN CAPE: Zak Crawley, Jordan Hermann, Tom Abell, Aiden Markram (captain), Tristan Stubbs (wkt), David Bedingham, Marco Jansen, Liam Dawson, Simon Harmer, Richard Gleeson, Ottneil Baartman