The Sunrisers Eastern Cape came into this match on the back of a fantastic outing against the Paarl Royals.
Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SEC) continued their strong start to the SA20 2025–26 season with a dominant 48-run win over Pretoria Capitals (PC) in the 5th match at St George’s Park, Gqeberha. Riding on commanding half-centuries from Quinton de Kock and Matthew Breetzke, followed by a ruthless bowling effort, the defending champions secured a bonus-point victory to stay unbeaten.
SEC skipper Tristan Stubbs won the toss and elected to bat first, which was an important decision. The new ball tends to wobble a lot under lights at the venue, which makes batting difficult in the second innings. SEC made the most of favourable batting conditions in the first innings. While the new ball did move under lights, the surface remained good for stroke play early on, allowing the Orange Army to post 188/6. Though they slowed down at the death, the total proved well above par, as Pretoria’s chase fell apart after a promising start.
Let’s take a look at the SEC vs PC highlights at the St. George’s Park in Gqeberha. It was a match which saw multiple records being created – some of which have been dished out below.
The South African wicketkeeper-batter continued his prolific run of form, with a fiery 77 against the Keshav Maharaj-led side. He took the attack to the opposition immediately after he after he walked out to bat. The Capitals fed the Mumbai Indians (MI) player with some bad deliveries, and the 33-year-old did not hesitate to take them to the cleaners.
De Kock’s 77 was also the highest score by a batter at the venue in the history of the tournament. The left-handed wicketkeeper-batter also scored a quickfire 42 in their opening fixture against the Paarl Royals, announcing himself to the big stage.
The Sunrisers Eastern Cape experimented with their batting order in the first game, sending in Marco Jansen at three in place of Matthew Breetzke. However, the latter was sent out at three against the Capitals – an opportunity which he grabbed with both hands. Breetzke scored his third SA20 fifty, and also formed a 116-run partnership off 70 deliveries with Quinton de Kock.
This was the highest partnership by any duo in the SA20 till date for any position. After Jonny Bairstow fell cheaply, de Kock and Breetzke made sure that they upped the ante and also kept the wickets intact for a late surge.
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With the start that the SEC batters got, a score in excess of 200 looked like the first thing to be achieved. However, the Pretoria Capitals bowlers came back brilliantly in the second half of the innings to deny a powerful finish to the Sunrisers. As a result, the SEC batters could only gather 20 runs off the last three overs of the innings.
Tymal Mills and Lungi Ngidi bowled the last three overs of the innings, and were clinical with the execution of the slower deliveries. With the average first innings total at the venue being 159 (until the fixture), the SEC got the better end of the stick with 188/6.
Just when the Pretoria Capitals looked set to mount a serious chase, Adam Milne turned the game firmly on its head. With PC cruising at 97/2 and requiring 92 off 58 balls with seven wickets in hand, the contest was delicately poised. That was when Milne’s variations came into play, starting with a perfectly disguised slower yorker that shattered Shai Hope’s off stump.
Milne finished with figures of 4/25, repeatedly breaking partnerships and never allowing the Capitals to rebuild. His double strike in the 17th over, which saw both Keshav Maharaj and Sherfane Rutherford depart, completely shut the door on any late fightback. The New Zealand quick’s control at the death was a decisive factor in SEC sealing a comfortable bonus-point victory.
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