Zaahier Adams
The Proteas have long searched for all-format batter to lead the way.
Kagiso Rabada does it splendidly with the ball, but not since Faf du Plessis have the Proteas had a singular batter they could depend on across formats. It should have been Aiden Markram, but it seems the burden of leadership has blunted the skipper’s blade. The ideal candidate should possess the technique to build a substantial innings in Tests, while also having the explosive power to excel in white-ball cricket.
Coming in clutch! 😎
Stubbo shares his thoughts after taking us over the line last night with Gerald to level the 4-match T20i series to 1-1. 🇿🇦🏏✨#WozaNawe #BePartOfIt#SAvIND pic.twitter.com/NGpDAqnhF3
Enter Tristan Stubbs.
In the last month, Stubbs has scored his first Test and ODI centuries before his match-winning 47 not out to help the Proteas level the four-match T20I series against India at 1-1. And while T20 innings can often be lost in all the craziness, it showed Stubbs’ growing maturity as he not only maintained his composure to rebuild the Proteas’ innings from 66/6, but also that he had the temperament to finish the job.
Unlike many of his contemporaries, Stubbs has prioritised red-ball cricket. He played a full season of first-class cricket last year for the Warriors, during which he struck a career-best triple century. He has also excelled on South Africa ‘A’ tours to Sri Lanka which put him in line for a Test debut against India at Newlands over New Year.
While that may not have been a dream debut due to a spicy surface, Stubbs has taken on the responsibility of the crucial No 3 position and not scored less than 20 in his next seven Test innings. He firmly believes his exposure to Test cricket has helped him grow his short-format game.
"I really enjoy the longer format because you can spend more time in the middle without feeling like you need to play a big ball and I really enjoy the graft of batting long,” Stubbs said.
"I think the longer form cricket just naturally helps your T20 game and the batsmanship and spending time in the middle and not having to make a play really helps the rest of the formats."
Stubbs, who was a hockey player during his school days, showed on the recent Bangladesh Test tour that he was quite adept at facing the spinners due to his ability to utilise both the sweep and reverse sweep to good effect.
He certainly needed those skills on a St George’s Park surface that was offering India’s spin twins Varun Chakravarthy (5/17) and Ravi Bishnoi (1/21) plenty of assistance.
"It was your normal St George’s wicket, a little bit slower than other venues but still a good wicket to bat on if you play good cricket shots," he said.
"When the spinners were bowling, it was staying low and you couldn’t get under it, so it was quite hard to rotate [the strike], and playing shots were even more difficult. They both (Chakravarthy and Bishnoi) were also doing just enough to beat you on either side.
"It wasn't easy to come in and just rotate even, let alone take them on. They are two of the best spinners in the world so when they are on, it's really tough and they got the better of us in the middle there by just out-skilling us."
Despite the daunting task, Stubbs was determined to push all the way. He did, however, need a little bit of help from Gerald Coetzee, who not only struck a crucial 19 not out off nine balls, but also provided Stubbs with the belief that they could take the Proteas home.
"He (Coetzee) walked in and he said straight away we can win this. G really came and played an innings to help that out," Stubbs said. "I believed it all the time. Fortunately, the run rate never got away from us.
"Once we lost the wickets, I had 30 in mind off the last three. We were always two hits away from being back to run-a-ball, and then we had the crowd behind us which was just amazing.
"It was really nice to get the team over the line and be there, not out at the end. I think as someone who bats in the middle, that's your whole goal when chasing, get the team over the line but do it by being not out at the end."
The Proteas have now moved to the Highveld for the remaining two matches of the series with the third T20I set to Centurion tomorrow before the finale at the Wanderers on Friday.