Joburg Super Kings coach Fleming rues batting woes

Stephen Fleming. Pic/SA20

Joburg Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming wore a dejected look at the post-match press conference after his team lost by 32 runs to Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SEC) in the Betway SA20 Eliminator on Wednesday.

He attributed the team's poor show throughout the season to injuries. JSK managed to win just four matches in 11 outings at the third edition of South Africa's premier T20 competition.

Injuries, a big concern

"Just to unravel our season… with the number of injuries we had, I think we were just hanging on a little bit. We were having holes in each game where we weren't as accurate as we needed to be," a visibly disappointed Fleming said after his team failed to put up a fight against two-time champions SEC. After putting the Aiden Markram-led outfit in to bat, JSK's bowling wasn't up to the mark and they allowed JSK to post 184-6. In reply, JSK were never in the chase and eventually managed 152-7.

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Fleming admitted SEC were the better side. "Today, they [SEC] played well. They got themselves out of a situation and then put us under pressure in the last two overs [SEC hammered 38 runs in the last two overs]. But it was still a good score because 185 was a par score on that surface. We had a chance, but we were sloppy again with the bat. We needed the bigger boys to stand up and get that 75-plus [individual score] and lead the way, but unfortunately we gave away wickets too easily and too often," added Fleming.

Meanwhile, winning captain Markram was satisfied to see his team's batting finally come good. "I've said this before that our bowlers have been very, very good, but our batting has not clicked the way we would have liked to and before you know it, you are five games in and then you're playing catch-up. But there were some good signs tonight with the bat. Small things like that opening partnership [46 runs in 3.2 overs] for us goes a long way. And then for some of us to spend some time out there and get to 180 is a step in the right direction," said Markram, who top-scored with an unbeaten 62 off just 40 balls (5x4, 2x6).

Markram magic

He was happy to be among the runs too. "It was massive for me to get a good start. We were close to 50 in less than four overs, so that helped the other players to take some time and we still got to 180. I feel we could've got a few more. I was looking at 195-plus when we were calculating during the second strategic time out," added Markram.