Rickelton comfortable even if he misses T20 World Cup squad with Quinton de Kock being recently picked over him.
Mich. Ryan Rickelton, the opening batsman for Cape Town (MICT), has “made peace with where I am at the moment” after Quinton de Kock was left out of South Africa’s T20 team for the series before to the T20 World Cup. Rickelton made sure he will be taken into consideration with a 63-ball 113 in the SA20 2026 opening, but he has acknowledged that he might be on the outside. The tournament squad is expected to be revealed this week.
“I am just trying to find my feet again with the bat and contribute,” Rickelton said after his century in Cape Town. “I’m at peace with whatever happens. Obviously this tournament is a platform for players to put their hands up but I’m definitely not thinking about it [the World Cup]. I am just trying to enjoy the game again which maybe when you’re not finding [a spot in the XI] in India, can be quite hard.”
Rickelton’s challenging journey of the subcontinent culminated in a score of 71 in the opening innings of the first Test match against Pakistan at Lahore. He was rested throughout the white-ball portion of the Pakistan tour, failed to reach fifty in his subsequent seven Test innings, and made consecutive ducks in two ODIs against India. His results stood in sharp contrast to how he began 2025, when he scored a double hundred against Pakistan in the New Year’s Test, went on to become the fourth-highest run scorer in the third SA20, and scored his first ODI century against Afghanistan in the Champions Trophy.
“It’s been an up and down year. It started really nicely but at the back end, had a tough white ball leg in India,” he said. “It was a tough last couple of months mentally. I can be quite negative and sometimes in cricket we dive into our heads very easily and it’s tough to get away. That’s what I think makes touring the subcontinent quite hard is that it’s tough to get out of your own head.
“The beauty of Cape Town, the beauty of South Africa is that you get the opportunity to just get outside and just experience a bit more than the game of cricket, especially the game of cricket in your head. I have family and friends here. I got the opportunity to not even think about the game until I had to think about it. That’s probably the biggest blessing and the biggest enjoyment I get out of playing here in Cape Town and Newlands.”