Ryan Rickelton is Unstoppable
Rickelton is in rare air
Ryan Rickelton rocked back and hammered the ball over deep backward square leg for a six, his sixth and last six of the match. The maximum came on the back of back-to-back fours; one creamed back over the bowler’s head and the other, drilled between the fielders at backward point and deep cover. Neither had a chance to stop it.
Rickelton has been taking bowling attacks apart piece by piece, plundering four half-centuries in four matches in the process. The left-hander is in rare air. His average of 112.33 is higher than the strike rates of 27 of the 58 players who have walked out to bat this season.
A lot of times, batters sacrifice their impact or strike rate to get an average as high as that in T20 cricket. Rickelton has not needed to do so. He is striking at an imperious 182.16. That is the third-highest strike rate among batters with 100 or more runs this season. That is the top 12 run-scorers.
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Nothing demonstrates Rickelton’s impact like his boundary percentage. The 27-year-old is scoring a boundary every 4.02 balls he faces. Even more impressive is his six-hitting, which has become the hallmark of his batting so far. 54.35 of his boundaries have been maximums. Rickelton has launched 25 sixes on his way to 337 runs in four matches, and 11 of them have come off spinners. He is scoring a six every 7.8 deliveries.
In comparison, fours have accounted for 45.65 of his boundaries. Rickelton has carved 21 fours at a rate of a single four for every 8.81 deliveries he faces. Impressively, Rickelton has not been sitting back and waiting for the boundary ball, he has been taking singles (73) and twos (15). He has an elite 27.6 dot ball percentage. This is a huge improvement on his dot ball percentage from previous seasons in T20 cricket, between 2018 and 2023 he averaged 43.43% in dot balls.
Much of Rickelton’s success has come from a change in mindset. He has always had the talent and skill to perform at this level, but he often played within himself, afraid to lose his wicket. That fear is no longer there. The other thing is that he has simplified his batting, playing good cricket shots and focusing on his strengths, a thing he has been working on over the past 12 months. He is stiller at the crease, a show of patience with himself and the game. He now lets the game come at him at its own pace.
The 27-year-old looks on course to break the record for the most runs in a season. In season 1 of SA20, only four batters crossed the 300-run mark Jos Buttler (391 in 11), Faf du Plessis (369 in 11), Aiden Markram (366 in 12) and Heinrich Klaasen (363 in 10). After four matches, Rickelton is a mere 54 runs shy of Buttler’s season 1 total. There is a huge possibility that he might be the first batter to score 400 or more runs in the league.
There is daylight between Rickelton and the next batter with the most runs so far this season. Rassie van der Dussen’s 210 is 127 runs less than Rickelton’s sum. This is the kind of thing his father, Ian Rickelton, saw often when Rickelton was younger. A fond memory for Rickelton senior is of his son smoking a scintillating century as he led St. Stithians to victory in the Johnny Waite Trophy final in 2014. That year, Rickelton also performed well, registering a century, as Gauteng swept opposition teams aside on their way to the Khaya Majola Coke Week title.
Back then, it didn’t matter whether his team batted first or second, he decimated bowling attacks either way. However, that changed after he turned professional. Between 2018 and 2023, he averaged 24.1 at a strike rate of 110.5 in 12 innings batting first. In the same period, he came out to bat second five times for an average of 17.35 at a strike of 104.4.
In 2024, the old Rickelton is back. So far this season, Rickelton has not shown a preference for one or the other. He has carved 12 fours and 14 sixes in 100 balls on his way to two 50s for an average of 92.5 at a strike rate of 185 batting while batting first. Rickelton has come in to bat second twice and faced 85 deliveries. In those innings, he has harvested nine fours and 11 sixes for his two half-centuries while averaging 152 at a strike rate of 178.8.
Ryan Rickelton is unstoppable, to sum up his SA20 campaign so far in four words.
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Thanks for reading. Until next time… - CS