Ryan Rickelton became the first South African to score two centuries in the SA T20 league.
Left-arm pacer Nandre Burger’s full toss went for a big shot, but Rickelton mistimed it and was caught by Dean Elgar at long-off. Just as he started walking back to the dressing room, he stretched a hand, and the umpire called, “No!” — the bowler had overstepped. Rescued on 87, Rickelton smashed two fours and a six in the next three balls to reach his century with a roar.
On Saturday, playing for MI Cape Town, Rickelton produced another explosive innings in the SA T20. Against Joburg Super Kings, the South African left-handed wicketkeeper-batsman remained unbeaten on 113 off 60 balls, hitting nine sixes and eight fours.
With this, he set a record as the first player to score two centuries in the franchise league. In the opening match of this season on December 26, he had scored 113 off 63 balls against Durban’s Super Giants. The 29-year-old’s performance is even more remarkable considering he was not selected for South Africa’s upcoming T20 World Cup squad. The Proteas announced their 15-man squad on January 2 without him.
Changes can still be made until January 31 without explanation, so only time will tell if Rickelton gets a late call-up.
At the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, Cape Town got off to a flying start after winning the toss and electing to bat, thanks to Rickelton and Rassie van der Dussen. Van der Dussen reached his fifty off 26 balls, while Rickelton took 28 balls to reach his.
The team scored 128 without loss in the first 10 overs. Van der Dussen fell for 65 off 32 balls in the next over, his innings featuring six sixes and four fours. Nicholas Pooran and Jason Smith failed to make an impact, but Rickelton continued his aggressive batting.
He began the 18th over on 81, hitting a six off Burger’s first ball. On the third delivery, he was caught, but the umpire called it a no-ball, keeping him alive. In the next two balls, he hit two fours to reach 95, and then a six brought up his century. That over alone yielded 22 runs. He followed it up with two more sixes in the next over.
Rickelton’s unbeaten century, along with Karim Janat’s cameo of 20* off 11 balls, helped Cape Town post 234 in 20 overs.
To date, Rickelton has represented South Africa in 15 Tests, 17 ODIs, and 18 T20Is. He has two Test centuries and one ODI century, but in T20 internationals, he had only scored two fifties until now. In August, he made 71 off 55 balls against Australia, but in the last four T20Is, his highest was just 20.
Officially, Rickelton has now three recognized T20 centuries. His first came in 2024 in Major League Cricket (103* off 66 balls).
In this SA T20 season, he has been the top run-scorer with 317 runs in six innings at an average of 63.40 and a strike rate of 172.28 — far ahead of anyone else, with no one even crossing 250 runs.
