Robin Peterson backs Tristan Stubbs to rediscover his smile playing for Proteas again

“EVEN Tiger Woods loses his swing sometimes.”

This is the view of Warriors coach Robin Peterson in relation to Tristan Stubbs’ recent frustrations. 

Stubbs, 25, featured strongly in the T20I series against Australia. He was the Proteas’ third highest run-scorer in the series with 93 runs at an average of 31 and strike-rate of 129.16. 

These are decent enough numbers, and he formed solid partnerships with new hot shot kid on the block Dewald Brewis in two matches. 

But that’s just it. Stubbs is the Proteas’ crackerjack. The “generational talent” who, in his first turn at bat for the Proteas, blasted 72 off just 28 balls against England in Bristol back in 2022. 

Unfortunately, that remains Stubbs’ biggest contribution with the bat 31 innings later with only one further half-century against the West Indies in Tarouba last year.

Even more concerning is that the once free-spirited Stubbs seems to have lost his joie de vivre. 

“Yeah, he seems to have a heavy burden, and he’s trying to play with a smile, but it can hit you like that sometimes as a player,” Peterson exclusively told Independent Media. 

“You know, all of a sudden there's expectations and you're trying to please people instead of just ultimately being yourself, and, you know, what got you there is what's made you successful, and you try and change, and then eventually you rediscover. 

“It's almost like where Brevi (Dewald Brevis) was two years ago, that's where Tristan, I feel, is almost now, but they'll come out of it because they're quality players. Even Tiger Woods loses his swing sometimes.”

Peterson, who was Stubbs’ coach when he burst on the domestic scene three years ago, feels the right-hander’s batter’s transition between formats could be playing a role in the way he approaches an innings. 

Stubbs started his career with the freedom to express himself in the shorter white-ball formats, but was then earmarked as the Proteas Test No 3 by national team coach Shukri Conrad. 

Almost unintentionally - perhaps even intentionally - Stubbs has transformed his game and mindset into playing like “a proper Test batter” which has inadvertently curtailed his natural attacking instincts. 

Even Conrad made reference to it after the T20I series when he stated that the batters “maybe boxed themselves in a little bit too much” and that “I just want us to show off a bit more.”

Peterson feels it's a mindset adjustment rather than any technical deficiencies. 

“Everything happened so quickly, all of a sudden he's in the Test team, he's in the 50-over team, he's in all the teams touring,” the former Proteas allrounder said. 

“It can be a lot, so I think he needs to free himself up a little bit. Because your mindset goes, and your training and everything how you did it previously to get there. 

“Everything … it's new to you, the format, and you so much want to play Test cricket, your game almost goes that way, and then, unfortunately, because they flip through formats so quickly these days, there's no time to actually get your mindset right again.”

Peterson feels the upcoming three-match ODI series against Australia, starting today in Cairns, is best suited to Stubbs rediscovering his mojo.

“Tristan will find himself again,” he said. “Maybe 50-over cricket is something he needs to play now. He can spend time in the crease, and you can actually discover it  because you have time.

“I wouldn't leave him out of the 50-over team. That's his best format, so if he's ever going to rediscover the confidence, that's where he's going to discover it.”