The March of the Orange Army
After two false starts, Sunrisers Eastern Cape did not look back once they got in step
The SA20 tournament started on January 11, 2023. Sunrisers Eastern Cape played their first match on the 12th of January. But, the Orange Army's march to the title only started on the 14th of January, after their own Any Given Sunday moment. From that moment onwards, they became the embodiment of the Sunrisers’ anthem: they never weakened until the final wicket was taken. They adopted a steely resolve.
14 Jan 2023. Sunrisers Eastern Cape had lost another match, and Adi Birrell walked into the dressing room with a big grin. If there was a tinge of concern on his mind, it didn’t show.
After their first two matches, SEC was 0 - 2. In a short league, that is enough to get the suits concerned. There isn’t much wiggle room, it was easy for a team to get left behind by the leading pack. Once that happens, catching up is an uphill battle. There were eight more games to go. Eight games for the team to recover and claim a spot in the semi-finals.
But, the SEC General Manager, Srinath Bhashyam was not concerned by that. This was a new team, a new coaching unit, in a new tournament. He knew that the team needed a little more time to gel. In any case, he had seen this movie before. In 2016, Sunrisers Hyderabad, the other team in the Sunrisers group that Bhashyam manages, had a similar start. Two early losses in a 14-game league. They went on to lift the title.
Like Bhashyam, Birrell was not worried. Unlike Bhashyam, Birrell had not watched this movie before. He had directed it. Four times. Birrell had lifted the title four times with teams that had lost two or more of their opening games. Most recently, he had done it with the Paarl Rocks during the second edition of the Mzansi Super League. He also did with Boland in February 2022. The last time he did it was in July 2022 with Hampshire.
“We lost our first four matches,” says Birrell. “After those four, we only lost one more match on our way to the title.” But the players were settled with all the teams he did this with. They knew their roles in the unit. This situation was a bit different.
While building the team, Bhashyam, Birrell and the rest of the Sunrisers’ think tank set out to build a team for the future, a team with a strong South African core. It would be even better if the players had ties to Gqeberha. “There was a real consensus that we spend a maximum of the kitty on the domestic players,” says Bhashyam.
At the auction, they went big for Tristan Stubbs, Sisanda Magala and Marco Jansen. All three have ties to Gqeberha. They ended up with eight Gqeberha-connected players if you added Ottniel Baartman, Brydon Carse, Aya Gqamane, Jordan Hermann and Jon-Jon Smuts to the list.
After going big on Stubbs, Magala and Jansen - and spending a decent sum to secure the talents of Jon-Jon Smuts, whom they really wanted - SEC had to Moneyball their way through the rest of the auction. First, they needed a strong support system of bowlers around Sisanda Magala, Marco Jansen and Ottniel Baartman. “We were very keen on building a strong bowling attack - a lot of the successes that we had with Sunrisers Hyderabad were because of our bowling reserves,” says Bhashyam.
Second, they couldn't afford on-demand batting talents, like Jos Buttler, but they could afford players with pieces of a Buttler they could least afford to be without. What they couldn't find here, they found there. They dealt in aggregates. At R175 000 - the auction base price - Roelof van der Merwe brought his primary skill, bowling, and a few other bits one can find in on-demand T20 players at a fraction of the price.
"I work in England, so I had knowledge on good players who did not have huge price tags on them. Roela and some of the guys play against my team," said Birrell. These players were either relatively unknown or teams did not rate them highly. Only Tom Abell fetched R850 000. The rest went for R425 000 or less. It helped that Birrell's eye test and coach's instinct agreed with the data mined by Gaurav Sundararaman.
On paper, SEC looked a few steps behind most teams. Birrell knew that his orange army could only be challengers for the title if they marched in step. And one of his first acts was to find a way to create a solid unit from this lot.
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On the fifth of January, Birrell took the squad to his farm. The outdoors presented a relaxed atmosphere where the players could chat and get to know each other away from the team's facilities. A little later, he gathered everyone to play a part in making the fire. The fire-making process was punctuated by a few words from Birrell.
The Sunrisers’ orange colours bear a close resemblance to the orange flame. The fire provided the perfect metaphor. The guys scattered into the bush fetching twigs, sticks and stones. Teamwork, when everyone contributed the team became more efficient. No effort is bigger than the other. Every contribution matters. Twigs are the lightest resource, yet of great importance.
“To make a fire you need the basic, you need twigs. And to be successful as a unit you need to do the basics well,” says Birrell.
When the twigs had caught flame, they added the sticks. At this point, the players were reminded that just doing the basics was not enough. The sticks represented the work that was needed to keep the fire going. The extra work. “You cannot make a fire and leave it alone, it will die down. You need to take care of the fire,” says Birrell.
“Fire can get out of hand and can hurt and destroy its surroundings,” adds Birrell. He asked the guys to create a ring of stones around the fire. The ring contained the fire. The ring represented discipline. The team needed to be disciplined in the way they acted towards each other, the opposition, the fans and the match officials*.
*The Orange Army took this seriously. They were awarded the inaugural Spirit of Cricket Award. The SA20 match officials (match referees and umpires) scored each team on a game-to-game basis taking into account the spirit of the game, respect for the opposition, respect for umpires and respect for the laws of the game. SEC was the highest-ranked team.
“It was a simple and authentic exercise,” says Birrell. The whole thing seemed to have the desired effect, a strong camaraderie took root. With the fire going, they all sat around the flame.
"Around a campfire you nxokola. You chill, you relax and interact without outside tension," says Birrell. And they did chat a lot. About themselves, about each other and about everything else. Birrell displayed his encyclopedic knowledge of the players, he knew a lot about his players. Birrell is one of those coaches with an appetite to know as much as he can about the players. He is THAT guy.
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And now, after two early losses, Birrell's Moneyball army needed reassurance. Srinath Bhashyam was not panicking and Birrell was not panicking. Bhashyam and Birrell needed the team to not panic. Panic leads to a tailspin, no one wanted that. The grin Birrell was not for show, and he needed to get the team in a similar state of mind as he was.
He needed his squad to do one thing. The ambers were smouldering. He needed them to put a few more twigs and branches to get the fire going again. He needed them to believe that their fate in the tournament was in their hands.
So, he shared with them that in the last four years, his teams had gone on to win four T20 titles after losing the first two games. The initial reaction from the players was one of disbelief. It only began to sink in when they realised that Birrell did not share the information as a joke.
Birrell reminded his charges of the fire, the Sunrisers’ fire. They could either let the ambers die down because they thought they were out of the title race, or they could gather twigs and sticks to revive the flame. They chose to revive the flame. In their next match, they pulled off an improbable chase against MI Cape Town, thanks to a Marco Jansen blitz.
In his blitz, Jansen smashed a six that instilled belief in Bhashyam that this could be a repeat of SRH 2016. In the final, Jansen smashed a six that had Birrell believing that they were lifting the title. To get to the final, this unfancied unit did not suffer a bonus point defeat, unlike most teams in the tournament - some favourites conceded bonus points in their losses. Their overall performance exceeded expectations.
“I don’t know if my speech after two losses was instrumental in our journey to the title,” says Birrell, who is quick to point to Aiden Markram’s leadership and heroics with the bat.
“Aiden was fantastic with his leadership and he was outstanding in marshalling the team,” Bhashyam echoes Birrell.
Birrell and Markram's methods dovetail. When Birrell made a fire reference reminding everyone that all contributions had value, whether it's twigs, sticks or stones; Markram praised positive acts on the field and in the dressing room. When Birrell spoke of maintaining the fire, Markram spoke of fighting till the last delivery was bowled. When Birrell spoke of keeping the ring in place, Markram spoke of being magnanimous in victory and gracious in defeat.
“And of course, there is also an element of luck that teams need, to go all the way,” Bhashyam adds.
Maybe the march of Orange Army was successful because of a combination of factors: Markram’s leadership, the Moneyball picks, a bit of luck, the fire and the team’s Any Given Sunday moment.
A explanation and analysis us SunRisers fans wanted to read. What a article this was. Bhashyam sir and Birell sir led the team right from the start, treated this side like its their own baby and carried them in to a fantastic title. Aiden Markram with his calm composed nature helped the side move ahead. What a side, what a management!
They have been outstanding!