Katich disappointed not to get record-breaking ‘son’ Stubbs: ‘The biggest purse won’

Tristan Stubbs. (Photo by Simon Marper/PA Images via Getty Images)

MI Cape Town coach Simon Katich was disappointed not to seal the talent of hard-hitting Tristan Stubbs at the SA20 auction.

Stubbs was in high demand at the SA20 auction at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on Monday.

The 22-year-old was involved in an intense bidding war between MI Cape Town, Sunrisers Eastern Cape, Joburg Super Kings and Paarl Royals.

Stubbs, who had a base price of R175 000, soon catapulted to over R8 million, and there was a tussle between MI Cape Town and Sunrisers Eastern Cape to land the final bid. 

Eventually, it was the Sunrisers Eastern Cape signed Stubbs for a whopping R9.2 million as he became the most expensive player bought at the SA20 auction.

Stubbs made his IPL debut this year, coming in as a replacement in the Mumbai Indians after impressing at the CSA T20 Challenge for the Warriors.

The youngster only played two IPL games and scored two runs as the Mumbai Indians finished bottom of the log. 

In June, Stubbs earned his Proteas call-up, making his T20I debut against India in Delhi.

Stubbs, who has played six T20Is for the Proteas thus far, then impressed for the Manchester Originals in this year’s Hundred, as they finished runner-up in the tournament. He scored 157 runs in nine T20 matches with a high-score of 46.

Katich coaches the Manchester Originals and the former Australian batter was eager to have Stubbs in the MI Cape Town side.

“I know him from the Hundred in Manchester. I got two sons at home and I also feel like I have a third son here, in Tristan,” Katich told reporters on Monday.

“That’s how much we enjoyed working together at the hundred, but we knew some of the big teams have budgets.

“Obviously, he is with Mumbai in the IPL so there’s that connection, but ultimately, the biggest purse won now.

“He is a special talent, that’s why we went so hard for him. We took a long-term approach to this as we knew the local talent is going to be a in high demand and there’s plenty of them around.”

The SA20 league is set to get under way in January 2023.