Ken Borland

Tristan Stubbs, the sensational young Warriors batting talent, will have his first taste of international action when he tours India with the Proteas T20 squad next month and his Eastern Province coach, Robin Peterson, believes the 21-year-old will only get better as he gains more experience in the shortest format.

Stubbs’s maiden Proteas call-up came on Tuesday following two outstanding T20 campaigns for the Warriors, scoring 506 runs in 17 innings, at an average of 38 and a strike-rate of 156. Many of his innings have been memorable efforts under great pressure at the death.

“We’re very proud of Tristan and very chuffed that he is getting this opportunity,” Peterson told The Citizen on Tuesday. “It’s a testament to his hard work. He’s a very natural player and being aware of the situation is where he has really improved.

“His biggest strength is that he reads the game well. And he doesn’t feel the pressure because he has the skills to get off strike quickly, get in and then explode.

“He comes in in different situations and he will only get better as he builds a database of doing it in different conditions against different opposition.

“Hopefully his IPL experience now with the Mumbai Indians will help make the transition to international cricket smoother. Mixing with Kieron Pollard, he’s getting some elite thinking on middle-order batting, and he has a great opportunity to play alongside David Miller now in the Proteas side,” Peterson, who represented South Africa in 100 white-ball matches, said.

As befitting someone who could come to the crease with three wickets down inside the powerplay, or with just 20 balls left in the innings, Stubbs has the all-round game for all circumstances.

“He has sound thinking around the game and he has all the natural attributes for the middle-order – he plays spin well, he can hit sixes and he runs hard so he doesn’t use up a lot of dot balls,” Peterson said.

“He loves his golf and was a great hockey player, which is probably why he has such good wrists.

“He’s a very laid-back surfer-boy from Knysna, but very competitive and very driven to succeed. It’s been a meteoric rise for him, but I just hope people are patient with him,” coach Peterson said.

Thirteen of South Africa’s T20 World Cup squad have been selected for the series in India, with Stubbs and left-arm quick Marco Jansen the only inclusions who have not yet played in the shortest format at international level.

All-rounder Wayne Parnell has also earned a recall, while fast bowler Anrich Nortje is fit again and available for South Africa for the first time since last November.

Squad: Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen, Dwaine Pretorius, Wayne Parnell, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi, Marco Jansen, Lungi Ngidi.

Quick-scoring Tristan Stubbs will be in line to make his Proteas debut following his first call-up on Tuesday to the South African squad for their T20 series in India, while fast bowler Anrich Nortje will be making a welcome return to international action.

The 21-year-old Stubbs has played sensational T20 cricket for the Warriors, scoring 506 runs in 17 innings over the last two seasons, at an average of 38 and a strike-rate of 156, outstanding figures in the shortest format. Many of his innings have been memorable efforts under great pressure at the death.

The talent of Stubbs was noticed by the Mumbai Indians, who called him into their IPL squad as an injury replacement two weeks ago. That cut short his involvement with the SA A team on their recent tour of Zimbabwe, but he did play twice, scoring 37 and 19, being not out in both innings and scoring at a strike-rate of 121.

His inclusion means the Proteas could field an explosive middle-order with David Miller and Aiden Markram both in outstanding form in the IPL.

Paceman Nortje has also been playing in the IPL, proving his recovery from back and hip injuries, and will be playing for South Africa for the first time since the T20 World Cup last November.

From that squad that performed admirably in the UAE, sadly falling just short of the semi-finals, spinner Bjorn Fortuin and all-rounder Wiaan Mulder have unfortunately lost their places, being replaced by pacemen Marco Jansen and Wayne Parnell, both of whom are useful lower-order batsmen too.

South Africa were only allowed to take 15 players to the T20 World Cup, but have selected 16 for the India tour as they finalise preparations for the next edition of the global showpiece, in Australia at the end of October.

Fortuin performed highly creditably for the SA A team in Zimbabwe, but Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj are always going to be ahead of him in the spinners’ queue. If one of them gets injured then Markram could fill in and, with their being at least two days between all five matches in India, Fortuin could always be flown in if necessary.

Parnell is arguably a more explosive batsman than Mulder and his left-arm swing bowling offers variety to the attack, with fellow left-armer Jansen generally using his height to hit the deck hard.

South Africa’s first match in India is on June 9 in Delhi.

Squad: Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen, Dwaine Pretorius, Wayne Parnell, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi, Marco Jansen, Lungi Ngidi.

Rain washed out the second day’s play of last year’s Boxing Day Test against India at Centurion and, while the tourists enjoyed a lunchtime feast including broccoli soup, Chicken Chettinad and lamb chops, Proteas captain Dean Elgar was giving his team some of his famous tough love after a poor first day.

Having allowed India to rattle up 273-3 on the first day on a pitch that assisted the pacemen, Elgar told his team to “toughen up mentally, take responsibility and wear your big-boy pants”.

South Africa did fight back, but that first day had ultimately done too much damage. Their determination did, however, make them the most tenacious of opponents in the rest of the series and they pulled off a thoroughly unexpected series triumph.

It’s the sort of inspirational captaincy Elgar has now become famous for and he believes England’s newly-appointed skipper Ben Stokes will lead in similar vein when they host the Proteas in a Test series in August.

“I wouldn’t call it ‘stubborn’ captaincy but I’d say we are both f****** tough cricketers,” Elgar told The Citizen on Wednesday.

“It’s going to be a battle of feisty characters and Stokes is a world-class cricketer, and we know what he’s capable of because he’s done pretty well against us, albeit just as player.

“But as captain you need to get the best out of your players and it’s going to be interesting to see how he goes with the added responsibility.

“We play with our hearts on our sleeves because we always want to push for the win, but Test cricket comes down to who controls their emotions best. If you let them get the better of you, then the results generally don’t go your way,” Elgar said.

Elgar and Stokes are both left-handed batsmen, but their contrasting styles are very much the yin and yang of Test cricket.

Stokes is immensely strong and provides much attacking thrust to England’s middle-order, while Elgar, as an opening batsman, does not play with the same freedom but the time he spends at the crease can be equally draining for the opposition.

Both Stokes and Elgar have played 12 Tests since the start of 2021, with England’s new captain scoring just 633 runs at an average of 26.37.

Elgar, on the other hand, has been leading from the front since his appointment, with 881 runs at an average of 41.95.

“I don’t dwell too much on individual battles, my focus is on us as a team,” Elgar said. “And I haven’t had a lot of personal interaction with Ben, even though we have played against each other numerous times since an SA A series against the England Lions in 2015.”

Proteas captain Dean Elgar said on Monday that he has made peace with the four players who are not available for the Test series against Bangladesh because they are in India for the IPL, and he has full confidence in their replacements ahead of the first match starting on Thursday in Durban.

Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram will all be missing from the team that drew the series in New Zealand. Pace bowlers Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi are also in India.

Keegan Petersen was always likely to return at the expense of probably Markram, while Ryan Rickelton is in line to make his long-awaited debut.

On the bowling front, Lizaad Williams, Glenton Stuurman and Duanne Olivier are the potential replacements for Rabada and Jansen.

“A lot of events have happened lately and I’m pretty comfortable where I sit with the players that are not here,” Elgar said. “I’ve had in-detail chats with all of them, to find out mentally where they are in terms of Test cricket versus the IPL.

“The players were put in a pretty unavoidable position due to the No Objection Certificates and agreements between the BCCI and CSA. No rash decisions were made and I know where they stand.

“But we can’t lick our wounds for too long and I’m very comfortable making do with the next best players, I’m confident they will cover all the bases.

“We’ve lost a few caps, but it’s a great opportunity for the new players to put the unavailable ones under pressure,” Elgar said.

The Test captain was also left in the lurch by the poor performances in the ODI series, which have allowed Bangladesh to take tremendous momentum into the Tests. Elgar said it was clear from the ODIs that Bangladesh now have the apposite skills and attitude for South African conditions.

“The ODI result really hurt, even for me and I wasn’t involved in it. Hopefully that has fuelled us a bit more and our hunger to do well will be right up there.

“Bangladesh are a new-look team and their coaches have obviously changed their mindset about how to play in South Africa. I think it’s going to be a good contest and we’ll need to nail down our basics.

“We are known to start series quite poorly, it’s always a talking point and I’ve emphasised it a lot with the team. I’m not sure what the reason for it is, but by making the players aware of it and trying to avoid it, that gives us the best chance to win the series.

“We need to find a way to not start poorly because it’s just a two-match series. I’m trying my utmost to get the message across that we need to start well,” Elgar said.