Stubbs’ sublime display elevates importance of Four-Day competition

Tristan Stubbs’ triple hundred in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday was one of the individual highlights of the 2023/24 season, and underlined the importance of the often unseen and unloved domestic game.

SA cricket is mostly viewed as just the Proteas and the SA20. The Proteas women exist as a limited support act. The Four-Day Series, the supposed bedrock of the game, is virtually invisible, available only through streaming. Still, that’s better than nothing.

It’s where Stubbs’ landmark was available for viewing. A stellar performance by a gifted young batter who in the past 18 months has deliberately been labouring in the shadows, desperate to break free from being pigeonholed as a white ball specialist.

A R9m SA20 contract, multiple T20 League deals, a 28-ball 72 in his first international T20 innings and a call-up to the SA team for T20 World Cup in 2022, had placed Stubbs at the forefront of the Proteas’ white ball plans for the next decade.

But he wanted more. “Four-day cricket is so good for all other cricket and I can see it now,” he said. “Because you are spending time at the crease, it becomes almost the best form of practice for other formats.”

That is the best marketing line for the Four-Day Series. The competition reaches its conclusion next week, with a final between the top two teams on the log. That will be a five-day match, an attempt by Cricket SA to create a “big occasion” domestically. It’s unlikely to be the case, but that shouldn’t diminish the importance that the Four-Day Series still has for SA cricket.

It lacks the glitz of the SA20, but Stubbs’ presence and his determination to succeed in it is crucial for the competition’s status. As is Dewald Brevis, whose form in the SA20 was poor. Because of the publicity around that event, and Brevis’ already elevated status in SA cricket, it’s easy to assume he is struggling to adapt to the senior professional game.

He isn’t. He averages 43.2 in the Four-Day Series this season, he’s made two centuries, one of which came after he recorded “a pair” at Newlands against Western Province. That success, immediately after failure, is crucial for the growth of a young batter. And therein lies the competition’s importance and the fact that two of the country’s young batting stars, with all the recognition — especially financially — they have received overseas, can see that, means CSA must build on it.

Coaches, including established and experienced individuals such as Russell Domingo and Robin Peterson have called for more first-class matches, even while understanding the financial strain it places on Cricket SA. The organisation still struggles to attract sponsorship for domestic cricket — none of the local tournaments has a company’s name attached to them.

But in terms of strengthening the local game, the coaches and players’ demands for more first class cricket is vital and understandable. Exposure to different conditions creates more rounded cricketers, even if the standard of play has depreciated in recent seasons.

Improving that area would occur if more of the Proteas would be available. This season Temba Bavuma, Dean Elgar, Marco Jansen and Gerald Coetzee have all played at least once, which may seem minuscule, but it elevates the status of the game they play in and certainly in the case of someone like Elgar, provides the opportunity to share valuable knowledge with a youngster like Brevis, as was the case earlier in the season.

As the tournament has wound down, and with a spot in the final up for grabs, so the intensity of play has increased. The Lions were left frustrated as Pieter Malan, 34, and with three Test caps to his name, made a gritty 162 in the second innings to ensure Boland hung on for a draw at the Wanderers.

The following week, against their neighbours the Titans, the Lions are involved in a mighty tussle for points and a win as they chase a top two place. The match featured a return to play for Lutho Sipamla, who bowled well and took four wickets, a superb hundred in difficult conditions for Joshua Richards, who a few years ago, was one of the bright young stars of domestic batting.

And in Pietermaritzburg, there was Stubbs, becoming the 15th SA batter to make a triple century. Four-Day cricket is alive — it may sometimes look like it is clinging on — but it’s importance to SA cricket can’t be stressed enough.