The third season of the SA20 competition will come to a close on Saturday when The Wanderers hosts what should be a cracking final between MI Cape Town and the defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape.
MI Cape Town have been favourites to win this tournament in the first two campaigns but it is the Eastern Cape who have got their hands on the trophy on both occasions. Will history repeat itself or can Cape Town finally deliver on their promise? This final is beautifully poised.
MI Cape Town
After finishing bottom of the table in the first two seasons of this tournament, MI Cape Town have finally delivered on the expectation that has been around them ever since this franchise was put together and now they will look to confirm that by winning the title. They have given themselves the best chance of being crowned the champions. They topped the table in the opening phase of the tournament and then won the Qualifier 1 match to give them the maximum preparation time for this final showdown.
The MI Cape Town batting has really come good for them in recent weeks. In their last three matches they have scored 222/3, 201/5 and 199/4 and in the one before that they were 110/0 against the Sunrisers when they got to the target they required so you would have to think they would have been in the 200 ball park there too. When you consider the big names that they have in their bowling line up, if they post a score like that here they are going to be very difficult to stop.
Sunrisers Eastern Cape
The Sunrisers Eastern Cape have had to take the longer route through to the final this year. Last year they were winners of Qualifier 1 to make it straight through but this time around they could only finish third in the league standings which meant that they have had to win two knockout matches to get into this final. While that builds confidence, it does mean that this will be their third match in just four days and that could be an issue for the champions here.
That high intensity and relentless schedule looked like it had got the better of Ottniel Baartman at the end of Qualifier 2 and Sunrisers will desperately be hoping he is able to feature in this game because in the main it has been their bowlers who have got the job done for them. Their batters have started to warm to the task recently but that unit will be up against it against a fresh and rejuvenated Cape Town bowling unit.
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Key Players
The pacesetter for the MI Cape Town side is Rassie van der Dussen and if he can get after the likes of Marco Jansen and Craig Overton in the powerplay then it could be a long way back for the champions so his innings could be crucial to the contest.
David Bedingham isn’t what you would call a natural T20 player but he could be vital for the Sunrisers here. If he can manage the powerplay and set the innings up for an explosive last 10 overs then the champions could be on course to retain their title.
Betting
If you have followed me in this tournament since the first ball was bowled then you will already have a betting slip on the Sunrisers Eastern Cape to win this match at 9/2 having backed them outright. I would probably have them as the outsiders for the game just based on activity this week but I don’t think they are a forlorn hope and wherever possible I try to stick with the girl I take to the dance so I’m going to let that outright bet ride here.
The one bet I do like in this final though is for MI Cape Town to hit the most sixes. When you look at the two batting orders of these sides you would expect MI Cape Town to outhit Sunrisers Eastern Cape more often than not. They have a deeper batting order and Sunrisers have to face four overs of Rashid Khan and another four overs of Kagiso Rabada and Trent Boult who rarely get carted. Sunrisers have struggled with the bat to the extent that only three players have hit more than five sixes in this competition and one of those is Marco Jansen who will bat well down the order. Cape Town have seven players with more than five sixes and arguably their best bowler, Ottniel Baartman, will miss this match with injury. The two regular season meetings between these two saw Cape Town win the sixes battle 11-1 and 3-2 and I expect them to beat them in that metric here too.
Tips
Back MI Cape Town Most 6s for a 3/10 stake at 1.95 with Betway
