Few growth trajectories are this sharp. Fewer are as heartwarming. Tristan Luus is 20. He can already boast of two major Franchise cricket title wins in his CV. He can also boast of triggering a bidding war in the express round at the SA20 Auction. 

To think it was only a year ago when he was drafted into the South African under-19 World Cup squad as an injury replacement.

The Blue and Gold weren’t letting go of him. What began as a Rookie Draft pick in season 3 turned into a full blown hard Auction fight to ensure Luus’ homecoming in season 4. How were his nerves when the paddles kept going up?

“It’s actually a funny story,” he tells micapetown.co.za in an exclusive chat. “I was on the field when the Auction was going on. I was playing for South Africa A versus New Zealand A. It was the third day of the four day match. We were fielding at the time of the Auction, so everyone was quite nervous. We could get our phones only after the day’s play, and that is when I saw all the messages. So I kind of realized a few hours after everyone else.”

“When I realized I was back with MI Cape Town, I was absolutely stoked. It is unbelievable to be back. It’s the franchise I want to play for. It’s the team I want to be involved with. I’m super grateful, super happy to be back. Last year was simply one of the best tours of my life. It was unbelievable.”

Rashid Khan, Trent Boult, Rassie van der Dussen, Reeza Hendricks, Hashim Amla, Robin Peterson, Mitchell McClenaghan. It’s an impressive list of men for Tristan to have rubbed shoulders with and picked brains of. Equally intimidating. 

“The whole month was unbelievable. My first impression, I’m not going to lie, I was very nervous getting into the camp. I was a young player coming in and then you see all these players you’ve watched and then suddenly you’re in a team with them. My nerves were through the roof,” he said. 

Meanwhile MI Cape Town were on a winning roll. It felt different in Newlands given the disappointments of the first two seasons. But the story of season 3 was that of domination. Domination turned into a winning juggernaut that just wouldn’t stop. 

“I backed the team from day one. We went on a winning streak in the middle after we lost one game at the start. It would take a really good team to beat us. We played good cricket in and out. We never stopped. We had the will to win this thing. I am just grateful to be part of a team that won this thing. I was also pretty nervous throughout the competition because it is a very big step in a lot of cricketers’ careers,” Tristan said. 

You can’t not fall in love with Luus’ bowling action. There’s a nice throwback feel to it. Nostalgic for an entire generation. 

“Dale Steyn is my cricketing hero. He is the guy I look up to. I’m not going to lie, I hadn’t noticed I bowl a lot like Dale Steyn until people showed me and told me my action and my run-up were quite similar. Only then it came into my mind and I thought, ‘Jeez, I’m actually bowling a little bit like him’. I think he’s one of the best bowlers  to ever live in my opinion and I am taking the small things away into my game, like his aggression, and slowly make my action and game as smooth as he had. But there are a lot of similarities. I also watched a lot of videos of him. I’m just trying to do the small things what he did right.” 

They might be small things, but it’s leading Tristan Luus to making big strides. As he comes back home, we cannot wait for the strides to turn into a soar!