Follow UsSouth Africa’s Ryan Rickelton is enjoying the form of his life in his young international career so far. Not only did he smash a maiden ODI century on his Champions Trophy debut, but in a span of three months, he's won the SA20 and hit his maiden Test double ton as well.
It was thanks to his century that South Africa managed to break their ODI losing streak of six matches, after they beat Afghanistan by 107 runs in their ICC Champions Trophy 2025 opener at the National Bank Stadium in Karachi, Pakistan on February 21 (Friday).
So what’s the secret behind this purple patch? Rickelton said that even he would not have believed three months ago that all these things would happen in such a short span of time.
“Yeah, if you had to ask me a few months ago, would I be sitting here and things work out the way they do - I would obviously say no, but it's kind of a point where I am just really trying to simplify my batting. I have quite a nice foundation. I always want to be a three-format player,” Rickelton said in the post-match press conference.
He further stressed how he takes inspiration from three-format players like Travis Head and Shubman Gill, although Gill last played a T20I back in July 2024 and hasn’t really been in India’s scheme of things in the shortest format.
“When I dumb it down a little bit for myself, [it] is just trying to obviously emphasize more [on] mindset and approach. If you look at the guys that play three formats really well, like Travis Head, Shubman Gill, all play similar cricket across all three formats. So, I'm really just trying to keep it simple, be confident in the way I'm trying to play and obviously look to make an impact,” added the 28-year-old.
Rickleton also faced the age-old question that all South African superstars before him have as to how much desperation is too much desperation for an ICC trophy? However, the wicketkeeper-batter was quite measured in his answer.
“Obviously, we are desperate to win it, there's no doubt about it, but in saying that we don't burn ourselves with that extra pressure. Everyone's gained that extra year of experience, that extra year of knowledge on what they're trying to do and how they're trying to do it.
“As a group, we might not have had the best results coming into this tournament, but quietly, I think everyone's quite confident. I don't think we're too burdened by the hunt to win the whole thing,” concluded Rickelton.