Tristan Stubbs struggled in 2025.
Joburg Super Kings (JSK) will face Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SEC) in the 11th match of SA20 2026. While Joburg Super Kings won their previous game, the Eastern Cape were on the wrong side.
Joburg Super Kings: Faf du Plessis (c), Matthew de Villiers (wk), Rilee Rossouw, Wiaan Mulder, Shubham Ranjane, Donovan Ferreira, Dian Forrester, Duan Jansen, Akeal Hosein, Prenelan Subrayen, Richard Gleeson
Sunrisers Eastern Cape: Quinton de Kock (wk), Jonny Bairstow, Matthew Breetzke, Jordan Hermann, Tristan Stubbs (c), Marco Jansen, Lewis Gregory, Senuran Muthusamy, Adam Milne, Anrich Nortje, Tharindu Rathnayake
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There’s always some assistance for pacers early on, and the trend should continue in this game. Both sides have quality new-ball bowlers, who will look to extract movement with the new ball. However, spinners were more effective in the only game this season so far.
They have taken 70% of the total wickets, so spinners will again come into play once the new-ball movement subsides. The team winning the toss might elect to field first. Around 170 will be a fighting score.
Sunrisers Eastern Cape’s captain, Tristan Stubbs, endured an abysmal 2025, where his T20 numbers kept getting worse. Overall, he scored 749 runs at an average of 31.20 and a strike rate of 129.58 in 35 innings, including a best of 43. On excluding IPL, where decks were flat, the average and strike rate fall to 24.94 and 118.46, respectively.
In the ongoing SA20 2026, his scores read: 17, 9, & 2*. Stubbs has failed to get going, and his innings construction has been unideal. From the looks of it, he doesn’t seem to understand the tempo required according to the situation.
His issues have been equal against pace and spin, but slow bowlers have troubled him more. Tristan Stubbs could only score 293 runs at a strike rate of 124.68 and a balls-per-boundary ratio of 8.70, losing his wicket 10 times in 235 deliveries, against spinners last year. 28.51% of his total balls were dots.
Realistically, Tristan Stubbs’ issues are too bad to work. The problem for Sunrisers Eastern Cape is that there’s no quick fix, and they can only hope their captain finds some form. The only thing they can try is shuffling his batting positions and getting his entry points correct in SA20 2026.
JSK will likely play an additional fast bowler and will use a few overs of Akeal Hosein in the powerplay. Hence, the Eastern Cape should send him as soon as possible after the powerplay, where he gets a few balls to settle and face more overs of pace. In the first 10 balls, Stubbs had a strike rate of 109.89 and a boundary% of 8.83 last year, so he surely can’t bat in the lower middle order, where his slow starts can backfire.
That will also put pressure on him to go hard from the start, which can result in another low score. Hence, he should be promoted in the batting position according to how the first or second wicket falls and should come before 10 overs if the situation allows.
This will help him get more balls to face and possibly bat with a set batter around, who will be the aggressor. With more pacers in the opposition, Stubbs can handle himself and cover later once he settles in. Obviously, a lot of that will depend on the situation, but he should be allowed to get as many balls as possible instead of continuing with him at No.5 or below.
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