It's easy to comprehend why Tristan Stubbs would gravitate towards Paarl Royals captain David Miller.
For years Miller was one of the youngest members of the Proteas squad. Free-spirited without a care
in the world, loved having a surf and teeing off on the golf course in equal measures.
Sounds much like the way Stubbs, 25, goes about his business now. They also just happen to perform the same role for the national team - finishing off innings in high-pressure situations.
And instead of viewing “Stubbo” as a threat, Miller embraced the kid from Knysna and took him under his wing since he joined the Proteas back in 2022.
It was a full-circle moment for Stubbs for he had grown up trying to imitate his idol Miller every time he walked to crease for Grey High School in Gqeberha.
"I love batting with Dave [Miller]. I pretty much watched him my whole junior years and tried to mould my game around Dave and the way he plays the backend," Stubbs said.
They have both matured in the interim with Miller now married and a father to a doting little boy Ben, and Stubbs graduating to Sunrisers Eastern Cape captain, but at heart their relationship is still as strong as ever.
It was certainly evident when they batted together in the double Super Over contest against Afghanistan when Stubbs smashed a six off the final delivery to tie up the game for the second time.
Stubbs followed it by launching a six off the first ball in the second Super Over before Miller assumed control by bashing a further two maximums to get the Proteas over the line by the barest of margins.
The high-intensity power-hitting display contrasted with their 35 runs off 21 balls partnership against India in the first Super Eights clash last Sunday.
Stubbs adopted a more measured approach due to Pretoria Capitals star Dewald Brevis having been just dismissed and opted to rebuild with Miller before launching a full-on assault again. He was even more calculated after Miller departed for 63 off 35 balls in the 16th over, before blazing away in the final over to finish unbeaten on 44 off 24 balls.
"You can't just try and go too early, then you all blow out. It’s about managing the situation," Stubbs said.
"We still had a lot of time. Five overs in a T20 game is a lot of balls and can make a big difference. We (Stubbs and Miller) think so much alike about the game, about our sort of role, it's pretty much similar. I have chewed his ear off over the years and I love the way he goes about it. We speak a lot about batsmanship, which sometimes can get lost, because everyone wants you to sort of hit from ball one, and you sort of can lose the value of your wicket, whereas myself and Dave, we think alike, so it's been awesome over the years to learn from that."
The Proteas’ next ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 Super Eights clash will be against the power-packed West Indies on Thursday.
