A superb 114-run partnership between Paul Walter and Heinrich Klaasen and 4-26 from Josh Tongue were the catalysts for a 21-run victory.
Having seen their women’s side win the toss and advance to the final earlier in the day, Zak Crawley, the SunRisers Leeds captain, decided to do the same.
They had the Manchester SuperGiants in trouble when the second-highest run-scorer in the competition, Tim Seifert, was dismissed for a duck by Brydon Carse for his 12th scalp of the competition.
Buttler’s good form continues.
After a slow start, the SuperGiants captain Jos Buttler began to motor, dispatching a couple of sixes over mid-wicket and crossing the 300-run barrier for the tournament. In the process, the SuperGiants’ 50 came up in 34 balls.
Sadly for the near-capacity Oval crowd, Buttler didn’t last for much longer. The former England white-ball captain was dismissed for 33, bowled by Matthew Potts, with Carse taking the catch.
Despite the breakthrough, the SunRisers Leeds were unable to halt the Manchester SuperGiants. Paul Walter, “Tall Paul” as he is known, batted beautifully at the top of the order, meaning the Manchester-based side reached 89-2 at the halfway stage.
Walter and Klaasen’s extraordinary partnership
Alongside him at the other end was Heinrich Klaasen, and the pair’s 50 partnership, littered with sixes, came up in 25 balls. They would continue the onslaught on the SunRisers bowling attack.
With 30 balls to go, the SuperGiants had reached 127 for 2; Matthew Potts, Tom Lawes and Matthew Revis had been particularly expensive. Klaasen joined Walter in bringing up his own fifty with a six over long-on and then followed it with a swipe of the legs over cow corner.
With 15 balls to go, the SuperGiants were 166-2; the partnership was 109 off just 49 balls. Nathan Ellis, who, along with Carse, had been superb for the SunRisers all tournament, was the man to break the 114-run partnership.
Klaasen miscued one and was caught on the long-on boundary by Harry Brook for 63, with the 200 mark in their sights and a Walter century still theoretically doable, but the SuperGiants would get neither.
However, they had reached a more than respectable 186-3, especially when you consider they were 9-1 after fifteen balls.
The SunRisers Reply
The SunRisers’ reply didn’t start the way they would have liked, with the competition’s leading run-scorer Mitchell Marsh out for 10, a good catch from Sonny Baker, who had a long time to think about it as the ball swirled above him at square leg.
It got worse for the SunRisers as the former England opener Zak Crawley was trapped LBW to Josh Tongue. That brought England’s white-ball captain Harry Brook to the crease, who tried to scoop Tongue for the first ball.
The top wicket-taker left in the competition, Gus Atkinson, was brought back into the attack as the scoreboard pressure mounted. There was some relief for the SunRisers as Ryan Rickelton, who had watched the wickets fall at the other end, pulled him over mid-wicket for six.
Harry Brook is Box-Office
For all of his flaws, Harry Brook is box office to watch; he showed why he had the tournament’s highest strike rate, taking the last three deliveries off Sonny Baker for 14. Brook’s movement around the crease was superb, first going over cover for four. Then, he scooped Baker for six while standing wide of off stump before rounding the pummelling out by lacing his England teammate through the covers for four.
The pair’s 50 partnership came up off 27 balls, but the SunRisers were still behind. Noor Ahmad, who had endured a difficult tournament to date, couldn’t break it as Rickelton once again cleared the mid-wicket boundary.
At the halfway point, the SunRisers were 92-2; it was honours even. Harry Brook didn’t reach what would have been a deserved half-century as he was LBW trying to scoop Sonny Baker.
Subsequently, the ball was actually missing the stumps, but Brook was unable to refer it after Crawley had previously burnt a review. Fresh off an England Test call-up, Dan Lawrence was caught on the mid-wicket boundary, a very good catch by Leus Du Plooy.
The SuperGiants put themselves firmly in the driver’s seat when a wide full toss was caught on the second attempt by Tim Seifert at backward point, with Matthew Revis dismissed for just four.
The Super Giants finish it off.
The SuperGiants pace attack was proving difficult to deal with, but the left-handed combination of Rickelton and Liam Patterson-White gave the SunRisers some hope; with 20 balls to go, they required 55 for victory.
Josh Tongue finished with figures of 4 for 26 from his 20; he bowled beautifully in tandem with his England teammate Sonny Baker.
Despite a valiant effort from Ryan Rickelton, who top-scored for the Sunrisers with 54 not out, the Sunrisers would fall 21 runs short of the SuperGiants’ total as the scoreboard pressure ultimately told.
The SuperGiants, after a superb all-round performance, advance to Sunday’s final to face the Trent Rockets.
