Ryan Rickelton spent Saturday evening thumping 113 not out from 60 deliveries for MI Cape Town, easing his side past Joburg Super Kings and, just as importantly for him, nudging South Africa’s selectors. The left-hander is not in the provisional squad for the 2026 T20 World Cup, yet his second SA20 century in a week has put him right back in the conversation.
MI Cape Town’s win – their second on the bounce – lifts them clear of the foot of the table. Rickelton’s innings, played at his domestic home ground in Johannesburg, featured 11 fours and six sixes and was celebrated with a gesture borrowed from India’s KL Rahul: bat slammed into the turf, a pat on the badge and arms spread wide.
“I was actually thinking about celebrations recently. I saw KL Rahul do it in the IPL, probably when he was in between teams and just letting everyone know that he’s there. I don’t know why that was at the top of my mind, but it just came out the way it did,” Rickelton told the host broadcaster moments after walking off. “I suppose maybe I thought about it going into the game or maybe these last couple of weeks, so it probably was an emotional outburst at the time. It was just the one at the front of my mind. I remember KL’s celebration quite vividly.”
The context is clear enough. Like Rahul, Rickelton has slipped out of his national T20 side. Quinton de Kock’s return and Rickelton’s lean tour of Australia and England last winter – one fifty in five T20I innings – counted against him when the World Cup squad was named. His one-day numbers were no better: a highest score of 35 in eight attempts and back-to-back ducks in India.
“In India, a couple of months ago, I didn’t know if I was coming or going at that stage. I wasn’t sure just what I was trying to do,” he admitted later in the Wanderers press box. “It’s such a big mental game and trying to work out my own game around that is probably the most difficult thing. I felt in India I was actually batting quite nicely, I just didn’t have anything to return for it.”
A pause from international travel has clearly steadied him. In South African conditions this month he has been the tournament’s leading run-scorer, passing 300 runs at a strike-rate comfortably above 160. The numbers are eye-catching without being shouted from the rooftops: enough to remind, not demand.
“You come back, experience your family and friends around you, and actually get to enjoy South Africa and being home. It can change the mental state, I suppose,” he said. “When you jump from team to team, it gives you a new opportunity, a new perspective and I’ve had that when I come to this team.”
Selection chair Victor Mpitsang was in the stands but kept his thoughts to himself. A place in the World Cup 15 remains unlikely unless injuries bite, yet South Africa will carry three travelling reserves to the Caribbean. Rickelton, fresh and scoring freely, could fit that role.
Former Proteas opener Herschelle Gibbs, working on television duty, feels the door is ajar. “You want reserves who can walk straight into the XI if somebody tweaks a hamstring,” Gibbs noted. “Rickelton’s timing looks back, and he knows the islands from the CPL. The coaches will have seen that.”
No guarantees follow one good week, of course, and Rickelton knows it. The SA20 moves quickly; another low score on Tuesday would put him in the rear-view again. For now, he has proved something to himself: the method that deserted him in India still works on more familiar soil.
It is probably too late for a dramatic World Cup rethink, but the selectors cannot say they have not been reminded.
