Ryan Rickelton relieved to ‘break the shackles’ with international half-century

Finally shaking the monkey off his back, top-order batter Ryan Rickelton hopes he has now fully launched his international career after racking up his maiden half-century for the Proteas.

Rickelton, who made 76 runs, shared a 136-run opening stand with Reeza Hendricks (51) as they paved the way to their team’s eight-wicket victory in the first T20 International against Ireland in Abu Dhabi on Friday night.

Having restricted Ireland to 171/8, with seam bowler Patrick Kruger taking 4/27, the Proteas reached 174/2 with 14 balls to spare.

“We obviously needed a good start, chasing a nice total on a pretty nice wicket, so there wasn’t really any overthinking,” Rickelton said on Saturday morning.

“I just tried to make sure if I got my match-up I was committed to the shot and pretty clear in the way I wanted to play. The wicket was good and I managed to catch a few out the middle.”

Greater things to come?

Widely considered one of the best batters in the country, due to his success at domestic level, Rickelton made his international debut in April 2022.

However, the 28-year-old batter had since struggled to cement his place in the national squad. Ahead of Friday’s match he had played only 12 matches for the Proteas in all three formats and had failed to score a fifty.

He was pleased to finally prove he could deliver for the SA team, and he hoped his latest knock would be a catalyst for greater things to come as he looked for a more permanent place in the squad.

ALSO READ: Proteas have nothing to gain, everything to lose against Ireland

“It’s a huge relief, to be honest. In our meetings prior to this match I mentioned it quietly with [Proteas head coach Rob Walter and captain Aiden Markram] that I was obviously just looking to get the first one (half-century) under the belt and hopefully break the shackles mentally more than anything,” Rickelton said.

“I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself but I’m stoked to get that out the way, and hopefully I can settle a few more things inside of me and take a bit of momentum to play the way I want to play.”

South Africa will face Ireland in the second and final match of their T20 International series in Abu Dhabi on Sunday (5.30pm SA time), ahead of three ODI matches starting next week.