The new boy in town but not the boy next door
Bristol witnessed a high-scoring drama between England and South Africa in the first match of the T20I series. A total of 427 runs were scored on a batting heaven.
Although the scoreboard shows that England won the match by a comfortable margin of 41 runs, it does not reveal how tight the contest was.
Having won the toss, South Africa sent the hosts to bat first. Jonny Bairstow, aided by some poor fielding by the South Africans, scored 90 runs off 53 deliveries and took his team to a mammoth total of 234 runs in their 20 overs.
South Africa were thrown out of the chase as England picked up two early wickets. Reeza Hendricks (57 off 33) showed some resilience, but the man who stole the show was the 21-year-old Tristan Stubbs.
Stubbs came out to bat when the Proteas were reeling at 86 for four and the required rate was 14.41.
Over the next half an hour or so, the muscular right-hander showed glimpses of a future star who is going to mesmerize the cricketing fraternity with his hitting abilities.
Not at all overawed by the situation, he put the foot on the pedal from the very beginning of his innings and tried to keep his team in the hunt.
Let us take a look at how he progressed during his knock of 72 runs off 28 deliveries.
Stubbs entertained the crowd with an array of shots predominantly on the leg side. But a beautiful loft shot over the extra-cover region was there to prove that he is equally strong on the off-side.
Let us have a look at how he scored around the ground during his stay.
The table shows that most of his runs came through the Cow Corner. But this doesn't take away from the versatility he exhibited during the innings.
Had South Africa bowled a few better overs in the death and had the target been lower, this special effort could have ended in a winning cause. But much to the young man's disappointment, his efforts were also not enough to see his team across the line.
 "Probuddha Bhattacharjee")
