It's a long way from Breetzke to Stubbs

Matthew Breetzke scored more runs in his last five innings than Tristan Stubbs did in his last 15. These things happen; players slide into and out of form throughout their careers.

But here's a stat to startle - Stubbs, who is among the most athletic and electrifying fielders in world cricket, has dropped six catches in his last five games.

What's up with him?

"These guys play a lot of cricket, especially the ones who play all three formats," Ashwell Prince, South Africa's batting coach, told a press conference on Thursday (August 28). "Sometimes you can get a little bit clouded in terms of your approach and how to go about things.

"Stubbs first came onto the domestic scene as predominantly a white-ball player. We've always felt that he's a good batter, not just a good white-ball batter, and that he can play all the formats.

"When you're dipping in between formats and you have different approaches, sometimes you're in a white-ball series where you want to play a more natural game and maybe your mindset is not as free as you would like it to be.

"I think Tristan is probably in that mental space at the moment. We're having the conversations to try and encourage him to be a little bit freer, to be a little bit more positive, to be the guy who burst onto the scene."

Doubtless Prince's conversations with Breetzke are starkly different.

"When you have a bit of form, your confidence is up. There's a lot more clarity in what you want to do.

"I've been impressed with the intensity of his training. We were joking with him in training before the ODI series that he's got to put that bat on ice because it was smashing it. It's great to see a player transform that sort of training form into how he plays in matches. and go and play.

"Matthew has always been a positive guy. He's always backed himself. For him, it doesn't matter who's bowling or who the opposition are. He's got game in terms of his skillset, that's clear for everyone to see. But his mentality is one of his biggest strengths. He takes it to the opposition."

To Prince falls the job of making some of what Breetzke has rub off onto Stubbs, while keeping Breetzke well away from what's happening to Stubbs, in South Africa's three ODIs against England. The first of them is at Headingley on Tuesday, followed by games at Lord's on Thursday and the Rose Bowl on Sunday.

Breetzke reeled off scores of 88 and 57 in the ODIs he played in Australia earlier this month. That followed the 52, 85 and 93 he made for Northamptonshire's T20 side. Breetzke hits the ball with precision and power, and seems unflappable at the crease.

Stubbs seems a far cry from the rangy, ambitious player who scored two centuries in three Test innings against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka last October and November. And who hit 54 off 32 and 71 not out off 25 for Delhi Capitals in consecutive trips to the crease in April last year. He reached 50 just twice in his last 15 innings, which were in ODIs, T20Is, a red-ball tour match, the WTC final and T20s.

He has the satisfaction of knowing one of those two half-centuries helped South Africa clinch their ODI series against Australia. But that, too, was not without its complications.

Stubbs grafted hard and tried to connect with the batter he used to be and will be again for his 74 off 87, with three fours and a six. His partner in a stand of 89 off 90 seemed to bat without a care, even though he stayed tautly focused throughout for his 88 off 78. His effort was replete with eight fours and two sixes. His name? Matthew Breetzke.