Host Carl Lewis chats with cricket writer Christopher Chiwanza about one of the most exciting young talents in world and South African cricket, Tristan Stubbs.
Find out more about the explosive hitter for the Proteas, Mumbai Indians and Warriors
Tristan Stubbs burst on the scene in 2021, during the CSA T20 Challenge. He had no franchise cricket experience, but he performed like someone with a few seasons under his belt. In 2022, he came back faster, better and stronger. The 21-year-old has made a case for himself as a serious T20 player.
Tristan is conscious of his fitness. He has always been. He was one of the fittest players in his school team, he is currently one of the fittest batters at Warriors. During the lockdown, he ran around for hours in their tiny backyard. He also skipped a lot. After lockdown, he added gym work and a route that passed close to Robbie’s place. He has bulked up since his debut for the Warriors in 2021.
That’s not the only place that Robbie saw Tristan. He also saw him practising his batting in the nets. Tristan was an Eastern Province player at the time. Robbie liked what he saw. He had never seen the young man bat in a match, he didn’t need to. What he saw in the nets was enough to tell him that this boy was special. He had the height, the strength and showed the ability of many modern T20 players.
The hard-working kid that Robbie saw in the nets is the same hardworking kid that Richard Gilbert and Michael Smith worked with at Grey High School.
Tristan ended up at Grey High because he insisted on the school. His parents would have preferred Oakhill, which was closer to home. But Tristan was dead set on Grey High. He was in love with the institution. The hostels and the grounds were his favourite bits, he experienced these when he was 11.
He also scored his first 50 for South Western Districts Under-11s at Grey High. After the match, he asked for a little piece of the pitch to take home as memorabilia to remember his first 50. He still has it in his room in Knysna.
Anyway, during his time at Grey High, especially the last year, when Tristan was not in class he spent a lot of time in the nets training.
Tristan and his best friend LJ du Preez had a habit of collecting balls from Michael Smith. Smith was the Director of Cricket and the professional who worked with Grey High during Tristan’s time at the school. By the time Tristan left the school, the boys had a full bag of balls.
Every day, the boys would be in the nets, LJ doing most of the throwing of balls. On the days when they would have managed to get Mike Smith to come along, he would throw balls and operate the bowling machine for them. On the odd days that neither Mike nor LJ were available, Tristan would find a boy from the hostels to throw balls to him.
He didn’t hit the balls for sake of hitting them, as most boys are wont to do. He did enjoy hitting the balls, but most of the time he had something that he was working on.
“A lot of boys might go and just smash a few balls and sixes and then they're done. Tristan wanted a good practice,” says Richard Gilbert, the Grey High cricket head coach. “Sometimes Mike Smith and I would observe from a distance, and you could see he wasn't wasting his time on rubbish practice, there was always something that he was working on. Something that we would have discussed over the weekend.”
Tristan did this six days a week. The other one day was often spent playing hockey. That has not yet changed. Tristan still plays hockey once a week and focuses on cricket the rest of the time.
Another thing that Tristan used to do when he played cricket for Grey High School is this. On the field, he normally fielded at long-off. He knew that coaching was not allowed during the game, but he always had all these ideas swirling in his head that he needed to bounce off someone who knew better. So, while at long-off, he would stand still like a tree and call the coach over. He would engage him in conversation, not necessarily ask him what to do with tactics or the field, but share the ideas he has in his head.
He still bounces ideas on Michael Smith, who helps him with his batting. He also bounces ideas on Robbie Petersen and the rest of the Warriors coaching unit.
“What I saw in those days is what he still is now, he is hungry to learn and so much in love with training,” says Robbie Petersen. “I don’t have to ask him to train. A player like that is a coach’s dream.”
