Sunrisers down Super Kings, now face Paarl Royals for place in SA20 final

The Sunrisers Eastern Cape's (SEC) charge for a third unprecedented SA20 title is still alive after they showed their championship mettle in their eliminator against the Joburg Super Kings (JSK), winning by 32 runs on Wednesday at Centurion.

They will take on Paarl Royals in the qualifier on Thursday at SuperSport Park for a place in the final to take on MI Cape Town at Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.

In a do-or-die game that pitted the Sunrisers' championship character against JSK's experience of having senior players on their side, the former came out on top.

The Gqeberha-based side went into the match in Centurion, having lost three in a row, and found the predictor not siding with them. The Sunrisers are the most ruthless side in the competition when it comes to playing knockout cricket, and they once again showed why they are double champions.

When it seemed as if the game was getting away from them, they always managed to get back into it, with the usual suspects from the batting and bowling units displaying their big-match temperament.

If former Manchester United captain Roy Keane were a fan of the SA20, he would probably support the Sunrisers because they do their job well.

The batting unit posted 184 thanks to skipper Aiden Markram's high score of 62. Markram anchored the innings with support from  David Bedingham (27), Tristan Stubbs (26), and Marco Jansen (23).

JSK had a target of 185 in their allotted 20 overs, but they were going up against a Sunrisers bowling attack that knows how to win games. They take wickets at the right time to swing momentum back on their side, and they can be very stingy with runs, which is rare in T20 cricket.

The leader of the attack, Jansen, who has grown immensely as an