New Delhi, Oct 16 (IANS) Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SEC) head coach Adrian Birrell said genuine pace sits at the heart of his side’s bid for a fourth SA20 title, with Anrich Nortje’s raw speed and a menacing fast bowling line-up bolstered further by the addition of Nandre Burger and Craig Overton in the season five auction held earlier this month.
Nortje, currently playing in South Africa’s Test series against Australia, took 18 wickets in the SEC’s title-winning campaign earlier this year. “Anrich Nortje brings us that thunderbolt. So, I think we’ve got options within that. They can’t all play, but we’ve got good options and backup for any injuries that could happen. I’m delighted with our bowling attack,” Birrell said in a statement by the tournament on Friday.
Birrell has coached SEC to three titles in four seasons, which makes them the most successful side in the competition’s history. While other franchises looked for balance and batting depth at the auction, SEC added Burger and Overton to a pace unit featuring Nortje, Marco Jansen, New Zealand’s Adam Milne and South African seamer Lutho Sipamla.
SEC will open their Season five campaign against Pretoria Capitals at St George’s Park in Gqeberha on January 17. Birrell said the franchise was delighted to land both Burger and Overton at their base price. “It’s absolutely a huge X-factor, so yes, we wanted those two players. There were other options that we could have gone to had we not been able to get them. We didn’t have a massive budget, but we got them at base price, both of them, so we were absolutely delighted.”
Jansen has been central to the franchise’s success by picking up 60 wickets across the first four seasons. He is just one behind former Sunrisers teammate Ottneil Baartman, the leading wicket-taker in SA20 history. Overton, also a seam-bowling all-rounder, gives the side a like-for-like option alongside Jansen as well as cover in case of injuries.
“Marco’s done so well over the four seasons for us; he’s vital for us in the powerplay and at the death, and his batting and fielding are outstanding. So, he’s a three-format player, a three-stage player for us, and so is Overton now, to do a similar role and bat in a similar position.
“But then we’ve got Adam Milne, who’s an out-and-out swing bowler and has got great skills at the front and the back end. Delighted to have him in the team again, and that’s why we’re so keen to retain him,” he said.
The signing of Burger reflects the franchise’s long-term approach, despite him currently recovering from a recurrence of a lumbar stress reaction that forced him out of the 2026 Major League Cricket (MLC) season with the Texas Super Kings in June. Birrell, however, is confident the left-armer will be ready for the tournament.
“We’ve got another left-arm seamer in Nandre, who’s very experienced. He is injured right now, but the background checks that we’ve done indicate that he should be okay for the tournament. When he is fit, he bowls quickly, so we wanted to get him on our books.”
–IANS
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