Stubbs channels his nerves to continue breakout run

Tristan Stubbs admitted that he was “proper nervous” and just tried to control his breathing as he struck an unbeaten 47 off 41 balls to shepherd a tricky chase and take South Africa over the line by three wickets in the second T20I against India.

“I was just trying to breathe,” he said with a smile after the game. “It’s my favourite place to play cricket and I was nervous, proper nervous, so I was just trying to control my breathing.”

Stubbs grew up in Knysna, a small town about 260 kilometres up the road from Gqeberha and has played all his domestic and franchise cricket at St George’s Park. This knock was even more special for Stubbs as it was his mum’s birthday and he had plenty of his family and friends in the crowd who had driven down to the ground to celebrate.

“Normally there’s a whole bunch of them [his friends and family], probably I reckon 30 to 35 of them,” Stubbs said. “They come through normally once a year for the SA20 and they’ve made a trip now. It’s my mom’s birthday too, so it’s sort of a celebration.

“Before I met the team I went and said hello to everyone at the house that they’re staying at. So yeah, it’s been a really good day.”

Coming into bat at 33 for 2 in the sixth over with South Africa chasing 125, Stubbs saw his side slip to 66 for 6 in the 13th. That soon became 86 for 7 in the 16th, but he got vital support from Gerald Coetzee with whom he shared an unbroken 42-run stand for the ninth wicket off just 20 balls.

“Fortunately, the run rate never got away from us,” Stubbs said about the chase. “Once we lost the wickets, I had 30 in mind off the last three and then G [Coetzee] really came and played an innings to help that out and then, fortunately, we got over the line.

“He walked in and he said straight away we can win this. I believed it all the time. We were always two hits away from being back to run-a-ball and then we had the crowd behind, which was just amazing.”

Stubbs was caught right in the midst of an intense Varun Chakravarthy spell, who ran through South Africa’s middle order with a career-best 5 for 17. Ravi Bishnoi also kept things tight at the other end, but Stubbs bided his time before taking on the fast bowlers at the death. He later admitted the South Africa batters were out-skilled by the two spinners on a surface that was “typically staying low” but was pleased to stay till the end to take his side home.

“They both [Chakravarthy and Bishnoi] were doing just enough to beat you on either side,” he said. “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 outskilling us.

“So yeah, 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.”

It’s been quite the breakthrough year for Stubbs. In February, he became just the 11th batter to score a first-class triple-century in South Africa while in the last month and a bit, he’s racked up his Test and ODI centuries. Stubbs also played a key role in Sunrisers Eastern Cape’s second-successive SA20 title while he finished the IPL 2024 as Delhi Capitals’ second-highest run-getter with a terrific strike rate of 190.90.

What’s brought about this maturity in Stubbs’ game?

“I don’t actually know how to answer that. It’s just been nice,” he said. “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.

“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. So I think that’s been the biggest thing.”