SA TOUR OF AUSTRALIA, 2025
Thirteen innings into his T20I career, Rickelton has just one fifty to show © Getty
When Ryan Rickelton imagined Australia, he probably thought of the MCG, kangaroos and Sydney Opera House. He probably didn’t think of Darwin.
But that’s where he is on his first trip Down Under. He will also be in Cairns and Mackay for the three T20Is and as many ODIs South Africa will play across 14 days, starting with the first T20I in Darwin on Sunday.
Shukri Conrad joked last month that he would have to “go to Google to find out where exactly” in Australia are Darwin, Cairns and Mackay. Rickelton arrived slightly better prepared.
“I always knew [Darwin] was up north,” Rickelton told a press conference on Wednesday. “I had a friend who lived up here for a bit.
“It’s a different part of the world, a unique little place. It has a smalltown kind of feel, but it’s quite a busy place as well. There are lots of different things to do. We’re looking forward to what all three places have to offer.
“I’m also looking forward to experiencing cricket in Australia. I would have loved to play at the main stadiums, but to play against Australia in their backyard – no matter where you are – is exciting.”
Backyard is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that last sentence. The combined population of all three places Rickelton will visit is almost 16 times smaller than that of his hometown of Johannesburg.
Cricket is a game of place maybe more than any other sport – pitches, outfields, boundary sizes, overhead conditions and dressingrooms change everywhere teams go. But it remains at its core a game. That is, after all, why Rickelton is in Darwin, a place he might never otherwise have bothered to visit.
He and Lhuan-dre Pretorius are likely to open the batting at Marrara Oval on Sunday. Thirteen innings into his T20I career, in which he has scored 263 runs at a strike rate of 134.87 and reached 50 only once, Rickelton knows he has work to do to stay in the reckoning for next year’s T20 World Cup.
“I’m still trying to establish myself in the T20 side,” Rickelton said. “Luckily there is experience around me in players such as Aidan [Markram] and Rassie [van der Dussen], but I don’t think there’ll be any expectation for me to change anything I’ve been doing these last two years.
“I think, the way the team is structured, the way I play fits the mould and how they want me to play. So I’m comfortable with what’s required – always looking to take that first punch and get the side off to a good start no matter who’s alongside me.”
In his 19 Test innings Rickelton has scored two centuries, including an effort of 259 against Pakistan at Newlands in January. Then came three half-centuries in eight trips to the crease to help Mumbai Indians Cape Town win the SA20. Followed by 103 off 106 against Afghanistan in a Champions Trophy match played in the thoroughly foreign conditions of Karachi, and in only his ninth ODI innings. From there he went to India, where he made another three scores of 50 or more for Mumbai Indians in the IPL.
Only in T20Is has Rickelton yet to stamp his authority, a quirk considering his aggressive batting style would seem to suit the format. Including the rubber that starts on Sunday, Rickelton could have 22 opportunities – at home and in England, Namibia, India and New Zealand – to change that perception by March next year. Or before the T20 World Cup.
South Africa will also play two Tests in India and nine ODIs in Australia, England and India. So the coming months promise to be busy for the all-format Rickelton. Sensibly, he didn’t pick up a bat in anger between helping South Africa beat Australia in the WTC final at Lord’s in June and touching down in Darwin.
“I locked my cricket bag away, and I travelled around South Africa,” Rickelton said. “It was nice just to spend time at home. I didn’t do much training, but it was nice to switch off from the game and spend time with my family and friends, play a bit of golf and relax.”
He learnt the value of doing so during the IPL: “It’s a long three months in India, and it can really stretch you mentally more than anything. Once you get into the groove of playing a lot of cricket it can be really nice when you’re doing well. It can also be dark if you’re not playing well.
“It’s about trying to manage the space mentally – how you train and how much exposure you have to the game while you’re in the thick of it versus stepping away from it fully. That’s the balance I’m trying to walk at the moment.”
Rickelton, Pretorius, Van der Dussen and Reeza Hendricks have opened the batting in South Africa’s last 10 T20Is. Hendricks played in all of those matches and blasted 117 off 63 against Pakistan in Centurion in December. But he failed to reach 50 in his other nine innings.
Consequently, Hendricks wasn’t picked for the Australia series. Conrad said in announcing the squad that “players have flown past Reeza”.
Rickelton hasn’t quite done that in T20I terms, but he has been cleared for take-off.
© Cricbuzz
