Stubbs, Breeztke star in nail-biter as Sunrisers Eastern Cape clinch SA20 for third time

Tristan Stubbs and Matthew Breetzke put up a brilliant batting effort in a nail-biting SA20 final against Pretoria Capitals as Sunrisers Eastern Cape clinched the title for the third time on Sunday, January 25. The duo put up a stellar unbeaten 114-run partnership for the fifth wicket as SEC chased down 159 in the final over of the clash at Cape Town.

The SEC were in trouble in the final against the Capitals as they were reeling at 48/4 after 8.4 overs. Breetzke, who had scored two fifties in the tournament leading to the final, stood up tall in the showdown clash along with Stubbs, who was long due for a notable knock. Having earned a call-up for the T20 World Cup 2026, Stubbs scored a brilliant 63 off 41 balls and hit the winning two sixes in the last over to take his team home.

Breetzke played an instrumental role too as he made an unbeaten 68 from 49 deliveries with two sixes and a four and provided the much-needed stabilisation that the chase needed. 

SEC were in trouble when they lost openers Jonny Bairstow (0) to Lungi Ngidi in the first over and then tournament’s highest scorer Quinton de Kock (18) to Lizaad Williams in the sixth over. They were further pushed in a hole when Roston Chase dismissed Jordan Hermann for three and Keshav Maharaj removed James Coles for one. 

The four blows left SEC hanging in the contest by a thread as they were also not having many overs at their disposal. Stubbs and Breetzke joined hands as they first stabilised the innings before launching an all-out attack in the death overs. They accumulated 52 runs from the next seven overs and needed 56 from the final four overs to seal the title.

Breetzke launched an attack on Williams to collect 14 from the 17th over before they chunked out 21 from the 18th and 12 from the 19th. With nine required from the final over of Bryce Parsons, Stubbs hit two consecutive sixes and took the team home.