Champion teams pride themselves on not panicking when their back are against the wall.
They rely on past experiences, moments when they have navigated through shark-infested waters.
But even having won back-to-back SA20 titles the past two seasons, the Sunrisers Eastern Cape would be feeling the pressure after three consecutive defeats in Season 3.
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Although captain Aiden Markram was among the top three run-scorers in the maiden championship-winning campaign, the Sunrisers have rarely relied on one individual to get the bulk of their runs.
It has traditionally been a collective effort with someone putting up their hand at any given stage.
Season 2 followed the same principle with only Tristan Stubbs managing to pass 300 runs, while the leading run-getter in the competition, Ryan Rickleton belted 530 runs with three others also passing 400.
It was their superb bowling unit, led by impressive seam trio of Marco Jansen (20), Ottniel Baartman (18) and Dan Worrall (17) that collectively claimed 55 wickets as the bedrock of their success.
But with Baartman only coming back from injury in the second game and Worrall not available this season, the Sunrisers have needed their batters, particularly the top-order, to take on greater responsibility.
It has not been forthcoming as yet with the Sunrisers being rolled for their two lowest-ever scores. MI Cape Town blew them away for 77 in the opener at St George’s Park before a spicy pitch at Centurion saw the defending champions slump to 26/5 before Jansen’s half-century lifted them to 113 against the Pretoria Capitals.
The opening partnership has certainly not been a settled one with Zak Crawley coming in to partner Jordan Hermann. This combination only lasted for two matches before David Bedingham was promoted up the order to displace Hermann, but without much success.
The best start thus far has been 38 against the Paarl Royals at Boland Park, which incidentally was the only time the Sunrisers posted a fair total of 175/5.
Last season’s Player of the Final Tom Abell has yet to find any rhythm either with a top score of 20 across three matches, while an exhausting multi-format international season with the Proteas seems to have taken its toll on Stubbs.
“We have a couple of new players in the team, Bedingham and Zak. Bedingham’s first game up the order and Zak’s third game for the franchise. We’re still trying to find that sort of blueprint that works for them,” said Sunrisers batting coach Russell Domingo.
“We need to find it soon, but we’re still trying to find that balance between being attacking and being a little bit tight and organised up front.”
Hermann’s omission has also meant that the Sunrisers now take the field without a left-hander in their batting line-up.
This does cause an imbalance, especially with many of the grounds utilised in SA20 featuring a short boundary on the one side that can be taken advantage of.
Domingo, though, doesn’t believe the absence of a left-hander is the cause of the Sunrisers’ batting collapses.
“It’s always nice to have a left-hander in the top-three or in the top-four or in the middle order, wherever it’s going to be. Just because we didn’t have a left-hander wasn’t the reason we were 34/5,” he said.
The former Proteas head coach feels the time for excuses is done as a lot of hard work lies ahead for the Sunrisers if they are to remain in contention for the playoffs.
“We know we haven’t played well in these last three games and we need to make our own luck. We need to do the basics a little bit better, which we’re not doing at the moment,” Domingo said.
“Fortunately, there are still seven games to go. We know it’s a long competition. We haven’t started well in this competition in the previous editions and managed to find our way.
“Hopefully, we can get into that sort of form and that sort of confidence in the next couple of weeks because we’re running out of time and we need to make a play.”
