Ken Borland

Tristan Stubbs, the 23-year-old Proteas batting prospect, has now been earmarked for the crucial number three position in the Test team, a crown prince following in the footsteps of South African greats like Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis.

Amla scored 7993 runs at an average of 49.95 batting at number three for South Africa, the record, while Kallis, who scored the most runs overall for the Proteas, made the number four slot his own but established his career at first wicket down from 1997 to 2009, playing 49 Tests there and averaging 49.

Given that Stubbs has only played a single Test and just 18 first-class matches, it was a surprise when Proteas Test coach Shukri Conrad was emphatic that the Eastern Cape product would be the number three batsman going forward, starting with the two-Test series in the West Indies next month.

“It shows how highly I rate Tristan,” Conrad said after announcing the Test squad. “Technically, he is one of our best batsmen and I believe he is unfairly seen as just being a white-ball player. The way he came in under pressure in the T20 World Cup and commanded his space, he imprinted himself on games.

“He’s a helluva player, the type I want at the top of the order. He has all the makings of a top-class number three. We have eight Tests in this cycle, so he will get a really good run with one eye on the future. Some may say it’s a big call, but I don’t believe I’m throwing him in the deep end, I’m not giving him a task I don’t think he can handle,” a typically forthright Conrad said.

Players coming from the Eastern Cape are often of rural stock and typically have no airs and graces, it being a strong farming community. Stubbs fits the stereotype: humble but in no way doubting his ability to fulfil the responsibility Conrad has given him.

“Batting number three for the Test side is a huge opportunity and challenge and I’m very thankful to the coach for backing me,” Stubbs told sportsboom.com in an exclusive interview. “Any time someone praises you like that, you don’t ever want to let them down. But I’ve dealt with a lot of expectation in my career before.

“It’s going to be a completely new role for me, but I’m going to go out and enjoy it and I’m really optimistic that I’ll be ready for it when I get on the plane to the Caribbean next week,” Stubbs said from the Proteas training camp in Durban.

Stubbs’s performances in the T20 World Cup suggest he is certainly up for the challenge. While 165 runs in eight innings at a strike-rate of 101.22 are mediocre figures at face value, he played most of his innings on extremely testing pitches and was batting up the order. He had the highest batting average (33.00) for South Africa in the tournament and played a key role in their progress to the final.

“It was a different role for me because I’ve never come in before when the team has lost two quick wickets, batting in the powerplay, trying to see off the new ball. But I really enjoyed it, coming in in some really tough positions. I enjoy batting when it is tough,” Stubbs said.

A natural strokeplayer and a powerful hitter of the ball, it is not surprising that Stubbs has made his mark initially in white-ball cricket. But he has a top-class record in the four-day game, averaging 50.20.

The fact that his last red-ball innings was a landmark innings of 302 not out for Eastern Province against KwaZulu-Natal Inland in February in South Africa’s premier red-ball competition, and that he has a phenomenal conversion rate of going to his hundred five of the six times he has passed fifty, suggest he has the makings of a quality number three. And a great desire for big runs.

“I took a lot of confidence from that triple-century. Our coach, Robin Peterson, is always harping on about we mustn’t just score hundreds – that’s not good enough, we must score big centuries,” Stubbs said.

“I got to go in early [at 20 for two] and I was able to bat all day. In the last year or so, I’ve really tried to value my wicket more. I’m always looking to score, but I also want to be more consistent. So I’ve put a big emphasis on not getting out, and that’s in all formats, particularly T20. Before I would get in and then play a stupid shot to get out. Now I’m trying to bat until the last over.

“I probably take more confidence, though, from how I batted in New York during the T20 World Cup, because of how I reacted when I was under high pressure. I really enjoy batting, I joke with my mates that the only time I’ve been dismissed between 50 and a hundred in first-class cricket is when my team-mate ran me out! So I would probably love a five-day draw with both teams making 600 in the West Indies,” Stubbs said with a laugh.

While he admitted healing would be slow from their T20 World Cup final disappointment – “it hurts so much more because we had done so well before” – Stubbs has exciting new opportunities lying ahead of him that will help ease the pain.

HARARE, Zimbabwe – The third round of the FBC Zimbabwe Open at Royal Harare Golf Club will not be fondly recalled by Luca Filippi, but the good news for the 23-year-old is that he still leads going into Sunday’s final round despite his 74 on Saturday.

That lead is a tenuous one, however, with Wynand Dingle firing an excellent four-under-par 68 to climb within one shot of Filippi, who is on nine-under-par overall.

Things looked to be progressing smoothly for Filippi, who took a five-shot lead into the weekend, as he birdied three successive holes in the middle of the front nine. But a bogey at the par-four eighth started the trouble and a double-bogey six at the 10^th hole was a bitter blow.

The Milnerton Golf Club representative did manage to collect a couple of birdies on the back nine, but a bogey, double-bogey finish put the seal on a tough afternoon at the office.

“It felt like a very long day and it was tough going out at 12.30pm in the swirling wind,” Filippi admitted. “So three-under through six holes was a great start.

“But then the double on 10 set me back, and I unfortunately had two bad holes to end too. But I thought I hung in nicely on the back nine.

“It was a nice start in conditions that were not easy and I thought I was building a nice lead, but golf thought otherwise and instead I just have a one-shot lead,” Filippi said philosophically.

It is only a one-shot lead thanks to Dingle, who is also seeking his first Sunshine Tour win, finishing birdie-birdie. And it is not only the 37-year-old that Filippi has to worry about, with the vastly-experienced Jaco Ahlers (71) and Louis de Jager (72) both on six-under, while the in-form Louis Albertse (72) and Zambia’s Madalitso Muthiya (72) are both one further stroke back.

But Filippi has a good head on his young shoulders and it’s not only about winning his maiden Sunshine Tour title in the final round for him; whatever happens, he sees it as another learning experience in an exciting professional career that was only launched a couple of years ago.

“The FBC Zimbabwe Open is a massive event, one of the bigger tournaments on the Sunshine Tour, and I’ve never had a one-shot lead going into the final day of a four-round event before.

“But regardless of the outcome, I would have learnt a lot after tomorrow’s round and I look forward to see what the day has in store for me,” Filippi said.

HARARE, Zimbabwe – Just about every golfer chats about bringing an aggressive approach to the course, but it doesn’t always translate into reality or a low score. But it did for 23-year-old Luca Filippi on Friday in the second round of the FBC Zimbabwe Open as he fired a superb seven-under-par 65 at Chapman Golf Club to claim a five-shot lead heading into the weekend.

Filippi, who began the day in a tie for fifth after shooting 68 at Royal Harare Golf Club on the first day, was just one-under-par through nine holes on Friday, but he knew he was playing well and stuck at it. Even missing a short birdie putt on the 10^th did not derail him and he then exploded into action with successive birdies on the 11^th and 12^th holes, an eagle on the par-five 14^th, and further birdies on 16 and 18.

“I played nicely from the start, even though I was only one-under on the front nine,” Filippi said. “I had some nice opportunities for birdie and then missed a short one on 10, but it was great to then start making putts. I was especially happy about my eagle on 14 because I had only played the par-fives in level-par on the front.

“I wanted to be aggressive and on both courses they’re using for the tournament you’ve got to hit your Driver very well. If you position yourself well off the tee then there are lots of birdies out there.

“I was doing that well today, although the putting was a little tricky at Chapman, the greens aren’t rolling quite as pure as at Royal Harare. But I knew there was definitely a low score out here.

“I will keep my game-plan pretty much the same over the weekend, shooting four-under at Royal Harare on the first day was a good start. I need to keep being aggressive, I can’t afford to sit back and relax. I need to keep my foot on the pedal, be aggressive off the tee and give my putts a chance,” Filippi said.

The Milnerton Golf Club representative, who is on 11-under-par at the halfway stage, will need to keep an eye on second-placed Louis de Jager (-6), who it must always be remembered did the South African Amateur Championship double in 2007, has won five times on the Sunshine Tour and competed in over 100 DP World Tour events.

All that experience has come to the fore in solid back-to-back rounds of 69 by De Jager, while in-form first-round leader Louis Albertse is with a group of five golfers at five-under-par after shooting 74 at Chapman GC.

Zambia’s Madalitso Muthiya kept himself in the top-three with a level-par 72 on the same course, while veteran Jaco Ahlers shot a 69 at Royal Harare to also go five-under for the tournament. Albert Venter and American Dan Erickson are the other golfers on that mark.

As a professional rugby player, whether the Springbok captain like Siya Kolisi or a 23-year-old still making their way in the game, you are going to have your character tested by the vagaries of the sport.

The shifting fortunes of the teams in the United Rugby Championship have illustrated this perfectly. The Bulls, who had the pressure of expectation on them having dominated the local scene for the last couple of seasons, had to come through the toughest of starts in Europe and are only now inching their way off the bottom of the log.

The Sharks, meanwhile, looked the form South African team last year, culminating in their impressive dismantling of the Bulls in Durban in December. But since then they have been held to a draw and then beaten by the Stormers, who have now overtaken them at the top of the local shield competition.

And now the Bulls and the Sharks will clash in Pretoria on Saturday, a key local derby which Bulls coach Jake White described as being like a final.

“You’re going to have your character tested at certain times but the Sharks are still a great team,” Ruan Nortje, the highly promising young Bulls lock, said on Monday at Loftus Versfeld.

“They have lots of experience, Springboks all over their team. I’m sure they will be playing good rugby on Saturday and it’s important for us to also be ready.

“I don’t think last weekend’s result will affect the Sharks in any way. I’m sure they will be ready to bounce back.

“We’ll take confidence from the points we’ve gained in the last two games against the Lions, but it was not a perfect performance by us last weekend, we struggled in many aspects. There are lots of areas we need to grow, basic errors cost us,” Nortje said.

The Lions, Stormers and Sharks have all put the Bulls under pressure at scrum time recently and Nortje acknowledged that getting the better of Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi and Thomas du Toit is going to be a major challenge and the Bulls need to improve drastically in that set-piece.

“We’ve been under a bit of pressure at scrum-time lately, we’ve had some injuries. But the work coaches Russell Winter and Werner Kruger are putting in will help a lot in the long-term.

“It’s been better the last couple of weeks, but we are not where we want to be yet. We’re up against an all-Springbok front row – what a challenge for us!

“We will just focus on our processes and it will be great to test ourselves against a quality side like the Sharks. Last time we struggled against them in the scrums, which gave them a lot of opportunities to get into our 22 and convert that into points.

“So a massive step-up is needed by us at the scrums, and also at the breakdown, where we struggled as well,” Nortje said.