IT was February 21, 2021. Warriors were playing Dolphins at Kingsmead, Durban in the CSA T20 Challenge. Sitting in the dugout were Robin Peterson and a 20-year-old Tristan Stubbs. On his professional T20 debut, Stubbs was nervous and the Warriors head coach was trying to calm the nerves.
Peterson had seen the youngster, who was a Eastern Province player, during a net session a few days back. Not a match or a competition, but a net session where they were looking for a T20 batter. The sound of Stubbs' bat stayed with Peterson. And it did not take long for him to be convinced that Stubbs was special, and he was it. "When he hit the ball, it sounded a bit different from his bat. You sort of recognise that sound. When you've played for a long time and you've played with players like AB de Villiers and the way it made a similar sound when he struck a ball, we brought him into the team," Peterson recalls in a chat with this daily.
Neither Peterson nor the Warriors felt the need to ease Stubbs in. They knew he was ready to take the field. That he had all the makings to be successful at the highest level — strong build, unwavering work ethic, impressive bat swing and hand speed. Soon, he was in the Kingsmead dugout with Peterson, watching his teammates go about their business.
Despite all the work he had put in to be ready for his moment, Stubbs was still 20. And Peterson made a throwaway comment to help him relax. "Mate, it doesn't matter if you get out. Try and hit your first ball for a six," he told the youngster. Stubbs may not remember it now, but that is exactly what he did. He took guard, and on his first ball in professional T20 cricket, smashed Ottneil Baartman over the boundary. It was just one of many moments that announced and defined the way Stubbs was and is as an athlete. Always brave enough to take the risk while leaving no stone unturned to be prepared and skilled for whatever the sport throws at him.
Four years on, he is doing exactly that for Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League. He bats in the middle-order, builds momentum and provides the necessary finish his team needs. It is what Stubbs has done for every team he has turned out across the world in this format. It is why DC, a team that went through a complete overhaul, retained the 24-year-old — their only overseas retention.
Stubbs can stand tall in his crease and launch pacers who bowl hard lengths back over their heads. He can reverse-scoop them behind the stumps when they go full. He is not your textbook batter. Nor is he an Andre Russell-like hitter. But he is just as effective if not more. His record in the death overs of the IPL tells how much. In the last three editions, Stubbs has faced 109 balls in death and has smashed 287 runs at 263.33. The runs and strike-rate are one thing but what can blow one's mind is that he has played six, just six, dot balls. Of the six, one came in 2025 against Chennai Super Kings. It was a missed reverse-scoop off Mukesh Choudhary in the 19th over after hitting a four and a six on the previous two deliveries.
It shows how Stubbs' madness has a method. One that he has worked hard to hone with multiple people. At the core of it are the range of shots that Stubbs has, the angle he creates and the hand speed that he possesses. Stubbs' father, Chris, was a hockey player and it dominated his childhood. Cricket in summer and hockey in winter. Peterson explains how the unorthodox positions he gets into while maintaining shape, especially against spinners, comes from hockey.
"I think the positions he gets into, slog sweep, there's a lot of hockey. His ability to slice the ball is and even that, it particularly helps him with his square shots of the wicket, like reverse sweeps, his slog sweeps of the spinner. The ability to use your feet and work the ball, deflect the ball into gaps. I think that a lot of it has to do with hockey," he says. "He's got fast hands, he's got quick wrists, he can react quickly to a ball. He can hit the slower ball, so, that delayed wrist and then the bat comes through with a great play. I just think he's probably the perfect guy that bats at the death because he can hit sixes behind and up the ground, over cover, and can slog sweep the spinners. He's got a great game for consistency with the high striker in T20 cricket."
While Peterson has been an integral cog in Stubbs' career growth so far, the youngster has tried to learn and improve with every person and every opportunity he gets. His Grey High School coaches Richard Gilbert and Michael Smith worked through the younger years, Runeshan Moodley has a part in building his strength. When he felt the need for it, Stubbs reached out to Julian Wood and started working with him on his power-hitting. Even in this year's IPL, Stubbs told broadcasters how he is trying to pick Kevin Pietersen's brain as much as he could.
"You're never going to have a cricketer that, especially a batter coming out in the modern era not having a great physique and not putting attention into that part of the game, being strong, bulking up. Because they understand that it goes a long way in trying to hit the ball far and that's where the game's gone. Tristan has had to add that to his game alongside his incredible skill.
"He's a hard worker, man. First at net, last to leave. He's curious. He asks questions. You know, he's always trying to get better and thinking about his game. You do not need to talk about whether it's getting into the gym, doing runs, the volume of balls, being very diligent around his game. That is something that he self-regulates. The only thing that I try to do is I keep trying to push him to shift the boundaries. How many games can he win like he did? I've watched him now in the IPL, even the winning runs in the Super Over (against Rajasthan Royals). Those are some things that we talk about. Be there at the end, you know. There's no point in getting the score, but you don't see the team over the line," said Peterson.
Indeed. So far in this season Stubbs has seen through DC twice and has set the platform, chipping in with crucial cameos on several occasions. But as Peterson says, it is only the beginning. The best of Stubbs is yet to come. For he is going to be one of the stars for world cricket in the coming decade.
