Johannesburg - Ryan Rickelton’s run-scoring roadshow continued at the Wanderers on Sunday, as the DP World Lions left-hander came within one run of notching up his fourth hundred in the last month.
The 26-year-old has seemed determined to make the national selectors look foolish for omitting him from the Proteas squad that is currently in Australia. The reason offered was an ankle injury, which Rickelton is understood to be managing, but which the Cricket South Africa’s medical committee feels is too much of a risk for a Test series which starts this Saturday in Brisbane and then includes back-to-back matches in Melbourne and Sydney.
However, if one wishes to argue it, Rickelton’s form is not a good look for Victor Mpitsang and his selection panel, especially when considering the Proteas’ problems with the bat in the last few years.
Rickelton, who played three Tests this year - two of those against Bangladesh when some senior batters headed to the IPL - has been the most consistent batter in domestic cricket in the last three seasons and has scored six centuries in 14 first class matches in that time.
He scored a hundred for the SA ‘A’ team against their Zimbabwean counterparts last year and this year passed 50 in six out of eight innings during a brief stint with English County Northamptonshire, turning two of those into hundreds.
Sunday’s 99 off 96 balls against the Gbets Boland Rocks was no walk in the park - certainly not initially - as he endured a tough examination against the new ball from Achille Cloete and Hardus Viljoen. Both had the ball jagging off the seam, each beating the outside edge of Rickelton’s bat.
However, having blunted those opening bursts, Rickelton opened up, driving fluently through the covers and cutting and pulling with authority when the Rocks seamers shortened their lengths.
There was an interesting mini-battle with the veteran leg-spinner Shaun von Berg, with Rickelton awkwardly getting a thick edge that ran to third man. Thereafter, however, he played a couple of prodigious sweeps - one a reverse - that went for boundaries.
He struck 16 fours in all, providing a foundation for the Lions innings, which they didn’t properly utilise. Reeza Hendricks made a stylish 44, sharing a 91-run partnership with Rickelton.
However, the Lions needed Evan Jones’ broad shoulders to power them to their final total as he scored 48 not out off 27 balls, hitting five fours and two sixes, with one of those deposited onto the roof of the Memorial Stand.
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Tladi Bokako bowled a wild opening spell, conceding plethora of fours, in between a few wides and also picking up three wickets to put the Rocks under pressure early. Farhaan Behardien (36) and Leus du Plooy (30) shared a partnership of 75 for the fifth wicket but were dismissed within five balls of one another to end the visitors’ hopes. Malusi Siboto took 4/48.
The Lions, who’ve won their opening two matches, host North West on Wednesday, while the Rocks, who’ve lost both of their matches in the competition, head to Bloemfontein to face the Knights.
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Brief scores:
DP World Lions 293/9
Gbets Rocks 182 all out
Lions won by 111 runs