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Sunrisers scorch Royals to reach yet another final

rugby23 January 2026 18:32| © MWP
By:Antoinette Muller
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Sunrisers Eastern Cape reached the final of the Betway SA20 for the fourth time, thanks to a thumping seven-wicket win over Paarl Royals in Friday night’s Qualifier 2 at the Wanderers.

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James Coles led the chase of 115 under the lights in Johannesburg, ending unbeaten on 45 off just 19 balls and finishing the job with a six after the Sunrisers had restricted the Royals to just 114-7.

Royals captain Dan Lawrence had earlier won the toss, chose to bat first and almost instantly regretted it on a used pitch that offered unusually sharp turn and bounce from the off.

Senuran Muthusamy led the way with 3-15 from his four overs, combining with Coles (1-15) to suffocate the men in pink at the Bullring.

Only Kyle Verreynne (52 not out off 45 balls) went beyond 19 with the bat, notching an unbeaten half-century to anchor an innings that never clicked into gear.

Lutho Sipamla struck first, coaxing Lhuan-dre Pretorius into an indecisive, one-handed drive that flew straight into the hands of captain Tristan Stubbs at mid-off.

Rubin Hermann perished for 12 when he attempted to guide Anrich Nortje fine down the legside, only to sky a catch to the backtracking Sipamla at short fine leg.

And Lawrence lasted just three balls before fellow Englishman Coles found his leading edge, with Matthew Breetzke at cover taking a simple catch.

Asa Tribe was next, overbalancing when trying to attack Muthusamy, as Quinton de Kock completed a sharp stumping.

Verreynne finally broke the shackles when he went inside out to crash the excellent Coles over extra cover for the first six of the innings, leaving the left-arm spinner with figures of 1-15 from his four overs.

Rovman Powell lasted just two balls before Muthusamy found his reaching outside edge, with Jansen taking an impressive low grab at slip, after Sikanda Raza’s tortuous 19 off 27 balls came to an end with De Kock’s second stumping.

Verreynne reached his 50 from 41 balls in the penultimate over, swatting down to the long leg boundary, before Bjorn Fortuin fell in the final over to an outstanding Jordan Hermaan catch in the deep.

COLES ON FIRE

It said as much about their intent as it did about the target that De Kock and Jonny Bairstow knocked off over 10 per cent of their required runs when they took 13 off Fortuin’s first over.

Then De Kock hit Hardus Viljoen for successive legside sixes - the first out of the ground - before timing the next ball perfectly back past the bowler for four.

But it was one heave too many when he took aim at Fortuin again, the ball clipping the top of middle stump and De Kock departing for a 12-ball 25.

And Bairstow became Fortuin’s second victim of the over when he was trapped LBW after failing to read the arm ball from the left-armer.

The runs were still coming as Hermann brought up the team 50 with a dismissive punch through the offside off Ottneil Baartman in the sixth over.

In-form Baartman had his man, though, when Hermann struck straight up in the air, affording Lawrence a straightforward catch to make it 50-3.

The Paarl skipper brought himself on for an over of legspin but it became another decision for him to regret, as 21 runs were thrashed off it as the Sunrisers closed in on victory.

Coles was on fire and polished off the chase inside 12 overs with his seventh boundary as the Sunrisers finished on 117-3.

PAARL ROYALS: Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Rubin Hermann, Dan Lawrence (capt), Sikandar Raza, Asa Tribe, Rovman Powell, Bjorn Fortuin, Hardus Viljoen, Ottneil Baartman, Nqobani Mokoena.

SUNRISERS EASTERN CAPE: Quinton de Kock (wk), Jonny Bairstow, Jordan Hermann, Tristan Stubbs (capt), Marco Jansen, Chris Green, Matthew Breetzke, James Coles, Senuran Muthusamy, Anrich Nortje, Lutho Sipamla.

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