The second part of the double header of action in the SA20 2024 campaign on Saturday sees us heading back to Gqeberha for the clash between the champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape and the Durban’s Super Giants.
The Sunrisers saw their opening match of the season washed out earlier in the week so they will look to get their title defence up and running here. Durban took advantage of the rain arriving when it did to win their opener and will hope to follow up in style here.
Sunrisers Eastern Cape
We didn’t get to see what the Sunrisers Eastern Cape were going to be like in their title defence in the opening match of the competition and with this being the second of just five home games for them they will be eager to get a win on the board and build their way into their title defence. The immediate good news for them is that the weather looks like it is going to play ball for them so we should get the chance to see what they will offer this term.
The first thing we need to see is how they will cope without their leading wicket taker from last season in Roelof van der Merwe. It is a surprise he was not picked up now that they have their wildcard available, especially after a decent enough World Cup in India. The other thing they will need to prove is that they have enough firepower to be a threat in what looks like being a high scoring season once again.
Durban’s Super Giants
The Durban’s Super Giants had an up and down time of it in their opening match against the MI Cape Town. You could argue they were fortunate that the rain came when they were ahead in the match and I say that because the actual point that it did arrive it felt like the contest was much more in the balance than the DLS equation suggested. We will never know if they would have gone on to win the game but we do know that from nowhere they had given themselves every chance.
We flagged up the batting power that the Super Giants have ahead of the campaign getting underway and we certainly saw the evidence of that in their first match when Heinrich Klaasen in particular went absolutely mad with the bat. The one question mark is whether their bowling could stand up to the test it was going to receive and for the most part they didn’t, but they just need enough to keep the score down to a total which was just about within reach which bodes well for them.
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Key Players
You sense if the Durban’s Super Giants take early wickets in this match then they will dominate it but if the likes of Adam Rossington can get the champions off to a fast start we saw earlier in the week how quickly the Super Giants’ bowling can fall apart.
It is hard to pick anyone for a key player role other than Heinrich Klaasen, especially after the brutal role he played in the win over the MI Cape Town on Thursday night. He might be the most devastating white ball batter in the world right now and he is someone Sunrisers need out early.
Betting
I find it hard to believe that we are not going to have a high scoring match here. Any match with Heinrich Klaasen in it has the potential to be high scoring if he gets going but there is so much more in this Durban’s Super Giants batting than just Klaasen that if any of them get in and start scoring then they will take the game away from the Sunrisers Eastern Cape as well. We did see that the Super Giants’ bowling has holes that can be punched into it though.
That makes me think that the firepower that the defending champions have in their ranks can get some joy when they have the bat in hand. I do have my questions over the Sunrisers’ bowling as well so when I weigh it all up this feels like a high scoring match. I would rather take the boundaries here though in case one side score a big total and the other feels the weight of the run chase. I don’t think a 39.5 line is particularly high here and I’m happy to get on the over.
Tips
Back Over 39.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
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