Ottneil Baartman is a doubt for the Sunrisers Eastern Cape ahead of the SA20 League final. Sportzpics
THE Sunrisers Eastern Cape brace for their third SA20 final tomorrow where they will play MI Cape Town at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.
This season has been a long and hard graft for the two-time champions following their dismal start, losing their first three fixtures.
They then finished third in the standings, meaning they had to play two knockout games without a break in between to make the final.
Having successfully gone through Joburg Super Kings and Paarl Royals over the past two nights, Aiden Markram and his troops aim to rest today and be fresh for tomorrow's final.
“It's been busy. A day like this is more for rest than training, especially for our team that's had back-to-back games," Markram told the media on Friday.
"Can be quite tiring but when there's a lot of energy at the stadiums and a lot on the line you automatically get up to it you don't have to force yourself. Looking forward to it. In the final, it's always a special occasion."
Markram admitted that this season felt more of a struggle than last season where they went on to win their second trophy without much hassle.
"This year's felt a lot more of a struggle and a fight more than anything," he said.
"Last year, it was pretty smooth sailing for us throughout most of the competition whereas this year it felt like we played a lot of games that were must-win games.
"That takes a lot out of the team but when you go out on the right side of the result then the team takes a lot of confidence from it."
Sunrisers fast bowler Ottneil Baartman is still uncertain for Saturday’s final after the seamer walked out of the park three balls into his fourth over at Centurion last night, having seemingly pulled his hamstring.
Markram told the media that the fast bowler is up for an assessment today.
The captain emphasised that should they need to replace Baartman, they would look for a like-for-like replacement.
"I believe he's going to do an assessment shortly so I'm not 100% sure yet. We've got some nice options to pick from," said Markram.
“It's more about trying to fill the overs that Ottneil would've bowled so you try to find as much of a like-for-like replacement with the ball as possible.
“It's about picking the right seamer that we feel can replicate Ottneil's role as best as possible."