SUNRISERS' BIG KAHUNAS CARRY THEM THROUGH THE TOUGH MOMENTS

When the dust has settled, which may take some time, the Sunrisers Eastern Cape will look back at Betway SA20 Season 3 with a degree of pleasure. 

Of course, they will regret surrendering the title had belonged to them the previous two seasons, but they should still be able to reflect on reaching a third consecutive final as a major achievement.

It was a season they weren’t close to their clinical best. The pressure of achieving the hat-trick was replaced early on by the pressure of simply winning a match after three consecutive early losses. 

It was not the start they would have envisioned and quickly had to play catch-up cricket. 

Often situations such as these force teams to retreat and take a backward step, but not the Sunrisers. 

Instead, they relied on their togetherness and team spirit that has carried them through before and bounced back with four consecutive victories. And when the wheels seemed to be coming off again with another two defeats as the Playoffs approached, they dug even deeper to win another three on the bounce, including two high-pressure Playoff matches on consecutive days. 

It takes a special unit to find that inner resolve, which could be likened to former Liverpool FC boss Jurgen Klopp’s description of his players as “mentality monsters” when they found a means to achieve victory beyond the realms of possibility.

Sunrisers are a similar group. Even when they weren’t playing to their full potential, they still found a way.

“Trying to get to the finals after losing the first three so badly. I think it was a good effort from there to get to the finals, it was a scrap,” said coach Adrian Birrell.

“But I'm really proud of the guys, fought all the way, weren't just going to give away the trophy. 

“And I think it was a good effort to get here. And these playoff games I thought we played really well, the knockouts. I thought we were peaking at the right time, but it wasn't to be in the Final.”

Betway SA20 Player of the Season Marco Jansen echoed his coach Birrell’s comments by paying tribute to his teammates for showing that they had the resolve to take it all the way to the end even though they needed to battle through some tough times. 

“Obviously, with the team that we have, 98% of our players have really good characters in the team,” Jansen said. 

“It takes a lot, especially when you lose the first three games of the season to come back and put in a performance like we did - four wins on the bounce with bonus points as well. That showed a lot of character in our team and I think after those wins, we started believing again.

“It's not easy. Some teams will win and then once they go bang, bang, lose two or three games in a row, then they struggle to recover after that.

 “The team that we have for the past three seasons, I don't know how we do it, but somehow we manage to pull back and show our face again in the qualifiers and in the finals. It's not easy to get a team like that, in my opinion.”

Jansen believes the Sunrisers efforts on the field are forged through building relationships off it.

“I think we have a group of guys that we gel really well together. We play golf together, we go to dinner together, lunch together, go for coffee together,” he said.

“We really enjoy each other's company. I think that sort of plays a part as well and that sort of goes over onto the field. So yeah, I think we have a group of guys that have a lot of big kahunas in character, if I can say it like that.”

The last word though belongs to the engaging Birrell as he addressed his team one last time.

“Three years ago, if you would have said we would have won twice and got a runners-up once in those three years, I think we would have been dreaming because that’s a hell of an achievement,” he said. 

“I know we lost, but flippen hell, I am so proud of all of you. We’ve had three proper years. We fought like hell. Never once did anyone give up. We showed character, and there’s been a lot of camaraderie and team spirit that has taken us through.  

“So, we can hold our heads up high.”