SA20 final: Sunrisers' magic formula faces Pretoria Capitals challenge at Newlands

There are a few certainties in life. Death, taxes and the Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the Betway SA20 final.

In a format that is unpredictable where form rarely counts for anything and a single individual can change the course of the outcome it is a remarkable achievement.

But yet here we are, on the eve of the fourth SA20 final, and the Sunrisers are here again preparing to face Pretoria Capitals in search of an unprecedented third title at Newlands on Sunday (3:30pm start)

What is the magic formula that the men in orange seem to have in abundance?

“I think this year we got a really balanced team,” said captain Tristan Stubbs.

“I think we've got all bases covered but I think the way (coach) AD (Adrian Birrell) runs the show is very simple and drills the basics and if you do the basics really well in South Africa, you tend to do quite well and you're quite consistent as a team.”

While the first three seasons the Sunrisers had a fairly settled squad, relying on a core group of players, all superbly led by Proteas T20 captain Aiden Markram.

But a mega auction leading up to Season 4 saw leading bowler Ottneil Baartman head down to Paarl Royals and Markram depart for Durban’s Super Giants despite Sunrisers’ best efforts to re-purchase their former skipper.

In a sign of the evolution of the Sunrisers, head coach Adrian Birrell placed his trust in Stubbs, who was previously seen as the free-spirited youngster.

But Birrell was never going to feed Stubbs to the wolves as he surrounded the 25-year-old with the experience of veteran Quinton de Kock

“The most challenging has been some days you feel like you know exactly what needs to be done and then other days I'm like I have no clue what to do,” Stubbs said.

“But I've had good senior players. We've pretty much bounced everything off each other, but it's just when some days you're so decisive and you know what you want to do and other days you get a gut feeling and some days it doesn't rock up.

“The important thing I guess is not getting too far ahead of yourselves. I think that's the key in a final.

“You don't look too far ahead. You play the current or in the moment. You never really try and put your foot off the pedal. If you've got a team on top, you try and, as best you can, keep the pressure on as much as possible.”

The Capitals, meanwhile, return to the showpiece for the first time since the inaugural final back in 2023 when the Sunrisers beat them at the Wanderers.

It’s been an uphill battle for the Capitals since, having failed to reach the knockout stages in Season 2 and Season 3, and filtering through a couple of coaches in Graham Ford and Jonathan Trott.

But the appointment of a senior management team in former Indian legend Sourav Ganguly and assisted by South African great Shaun Pollock has created stability along with the appointment of the calm and assured Keshav Maharaj as captain.

This has created an environment where youngsters such as Dewald Brevis, Bryce Parsons and West Indian Sherfane Rutherford have been able to express their talents. 

Parsons certainly believes having an experienced mentor like Ganguly in the changeroom has certainly helped his game and helped the team reach the final.

“I mean, to have a name (Ganguly) and a cricket mind like that in the dressing room has been really good, especially for a youngster like me, he's a left-hander as well, so I mean, he's imported a lot of knowledge, and I'm just trying to learn as much as I can,” Parsons said.

“I am really excited to be a part of a team that's in the final.

“It was very nice to go straight through to the final. We didn't want the pressure of the next game on Friday, so to get straight to Cape Town was always what we came here for.

“Yeah, they (Sunrisers) beat us twice in the group stages, but we know the talent that's in our change room.”