Tristan Stubbs ready to switch from Proteas to Sunrisers Eastern Cape in new SA20 leadership role
Tristan Stubbs is set to lead the Sunrisers Eastern Cape as captain in the upcoming SA20 season, following Aiden Markram’s departure, and is eager to engage in a series of high-intensity T20 matches. Picture: Shaun Roy/SportzPics
Image: Shaun Roy/SportzPics
New Sunrisers Eastern Cape skipper Tristan Stubbs is looking forward to a furious month of explosive cricket, with the SA20 taking centre stage in South Africa for a month from its Boxing Day start.
With just one match remaining in the Proteas tour to India in Ahmedabad on Friday, the players can be forgiven for already having one foot on the plane back to South Africa.
That’s especially true after the fourth T20 International between India and South Africa was abandoned without a ball bowled due to fog.
It means the best South Africa can do is draw the series at 2-1 down. For Stubbs, getting busy playing a number of games in quick succession for the Sunrisers Eastern Cape will be satisfying.
Stubbs Excited for Captaincy Role in SA20 After Markram’s Departure
“For me, I just want to play good-quality T20 cricket,” Stubbs told SportsBoom.co.za.
“We’ve been swapping and changing a lot [with the Proteas], and I’m excited to get stuck into T20 games for the next while. SA20 is the most fun time of the year, so I’m really looking forward to it.”
This year, Stubbs will have added responsibility as captain after Aiden Markram was not retained by the franchise for the new season at the SA20 auction earlier this year.
“I knew I was going to be captain. [Head coach] Adrian Birrell said before the auction they would go all out to retain Markram, but if we didn’t get him, they wanted me to be captain. That’s literally what happened, and I’m pretty excited.”
“We had a plan to retain Markram, but that didn’t happen,” Stubbs explained. “So plan B was to get Quinny [Quinton de Kock], [Matthew] Breetzke and Anrich Nortje for Aiden’s auction value. Thankfully, we got three quality players who bring serious experience.”