Aiden Markram struck a century the last time the Sunrisers Eastern Cape met Joburg Super Kings in a SA20 playoff at Centurion. Photo: Sportzpics
Sunrisers Eastern Cape captain Aiden Markram does not want to dwell on the past and believes that “its time to start playing good cricket now” ahead of the SA20 Eliminator against Joburg Super Kings at Centurion on Wednesday.
The double defending champions have seen it all before with the clash against JSK a rematch of the Season 1 semi-final at the very same ground. Markram led from the front in that encounter with a scintillating century that saw the Sunrisers progress to their first-ever SA20 final.
But three years down the line Markram feels that history bears no impact on the pending clash against their rivals from Johannesburg.
“A completely new game of cricket. You can’t walk on the field thinking you’re ahead because you’ve been in that position before, handled that situation better in the past,” Markram told the media in Centurion on Tuesday.
“To be honest, it has felt like that (Season 1). We’ve had to chip away and scrap away to try and find ways to win games of cricket.
“For us it feels very similar. We are now moving into the knockout stages where form doesn’t really matter. It’s one game at a time and you play well on the day you give yourself a good chance of winning.
“That’s pretty much where the focus is because as a team we pride ourselves on winning from any position – be it knockout cricket or in group stages. We will scrap and try to find a way to win. But it's time to start playing good cricket now.”
After an inconsistent league phase, the Sunrisers can at least take confidence from having crushed the Paarl Royals by a bonus point in their last match at St George’s Park before travelling up to the Highveld.
“It is always good to take confidence into knockout cricket,” Markram said.
“For the sake of the changeroom and the atmosphere within the team that win helped a lot. A lot of good we can take from there.
“It’s no secret we haven’t been good as a team. We’ve often asked our bowlers to get us out of jail and they have been incredible; our bowling attack.
“But we haven’t put together a full game of cricket as yet. That’s obviously where the focus is and no better time to get it right than in the knockout stages.”