Sunrisers Eastern Cape, two successive winners of the SA20, ended as the runners-up of the tournament as they lost the final against MI Cape Town at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg. They finished the group stage of the points table at the third position with the help of five victories in 10 encounters at a net run rate of -0.720. It wasn’t a great start to the campaign with three consecutive defeats.

Sunrisers came to the auction of the SA20 for the 2025/26 edition with the joint second-most purse of R21.5 million with the requirement of filling 14 slots, including four overseas and two Under-23 players. The first player of the auction for the Sunrisers came in the form of the former wicket-keeper opening batter, Quinton de Kock, for R2.40 million, as the Durban Super Giants didn’t use their RTM card.

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SEC’s coup for bagging the expressive Protea pacer, Anrich Nortje, came at R5 million to join the forces with the left-arm pacer, Marco Jansen, in the attack. They had filled their 19 spots before getting James Coles, Chris Wood, Lewis Gregory, and JP King in the accelerated round.

 SA20 2025/26: Full list of players for Sunrisers Eastern Cape

Matthew Breetzke, who has already earned so much success for the Rainbow Nation with successive half-centuries in the 50-over format, went to the Sunrisers Eastern Cape for R6.1 million after an intense bidding war with the Pretoria Capitals and Durban Super Giants.

At the end of the auction, their assistant coach, Russell Domingo, announced Tristan Stubbs as their new leader, having lost Aiden Markram in the process. “I did get the clearance from the owners and from Adi to announce that Tristan Stubbs will be leading the Sunrisers going forward. He's a local boy, I think he loves nothing more than playing for the Sunrisers and for the Warriors back in Port Elizabeth.”

Sunrisers Eastern Cape

Retained: Tristan Stubbs  

Wild Card: Marco Jansen

Pre-signing: Jonny Bairstow, Allah Ghazanfar, Adam Milne.

Auction: Quinton de Kock (R2.4 million), Matthew Breetzke (R6.1 million), Anrich Nortje (R5 million), Senuran Muthusamy (R1.5 million), Patrick Kruger (R450,000), Lutho Sipamla (R600,000), Mitchell van Buuren (R200,000), Jordan Hermann (R1.5 million), Beyers Swanepoel (R200,000), James Coles (R1 million), Chris Wood (R500,000), Lewis Gregory (R1 million), CJ King (R200,000), JP King (R200,000)