Nortje recalled to South African T20I squad; Stubbs receives maiden call-up

Tristan Stubbs, a talented 21-year-old middle-order hitter from the Eastern Cape who had amassed 506 runs in 17 senior T20 innings, was hardly known outside of the narrow bubble of South African domestic cricket only two weeks ago.

On May 5, the Mumbai Indians announced Stubbs as the replacement for injured Tymal Mills for the remainder of the IPL season.

Stubbs’ narrative got a further chapter on Tuesday when he was named to South Africa’s team for five T20Is in India in June.

During the provincial competition in February, Stubbs scored more than half of his career T20 runs in less than half of his career trips to the crease.

In two T20s for South Africa A against Zimbabwe in May, he scored 56 runs off 61 balls without being removed.

Stubbs’ IPL fantasy did not come true this time, as Mukesh Choudhary of Chennai Super Kings trapped him in front for a second-ball duck at the Wankhede on Thursday.

That is the only game he has ever played for the first team to be knocked out of the postseason race.

Stubbs is one of nine players in the 16-player roster who have IPL contracts.

Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Marco Jansen, and Lungi Ngidi drew the wrath of many South Africans, including Dean Elgar, for opting to play in the event rather than the home Test series against Bangladesh in March and April.

That slight appears to have been overlooked.

In a statement on Tuesday, convener of selectors Victor Mpitsang was reported as stating, “This is the Proteas like we haven’t seen them in a long time.”

“With the IPL players, we’ll have a team that’s ready to go right away and has a lot of experience with the conditions we’ll be playing in.”

Nortje has been battling a hip injury that has kept him out of all 14 of South Africa’s T20 World Cup matches since November and has limited him to only five of Delhi Capitals’ 13 games.

Nortje had been “medically approved for action,” according to the press statement.

The expected comeback of the seventh-ranked T20I bowler has caused “a collective sigh of relief,” according to Mpitsang.

Bjorn Fortuin and Wiaan Mulder have been lost from South Africa’s T20 World Cup squad, which performed better than expected and nearly missed a semi-final berth.

Stubbs and Jansen are newcomers, while Wayne Parnell returns after not playing a T20I since June 2017. Stubbs and Jansen have yet to play in the format, while Ngidi has yet to appear for Delhi.

India is the top-ranked squad in the tournament, while South Africa is placed fourth. The series will serve as a warm-up for the T20I World Cup in October and November in Australia.