Walking on Rare Air

Rickelton walks on rare air when he is having fun

The first training session did not go well because Ryan Rickelton was in a temper. The left-hander is not given to throwing fits or outbursts of anger. A temper isn't something one associates with him. However, on that January afternoon, Rickelton muttered encouragement to himself before each delivery and was visibly frustrated afterwards. He was angry with himself because he couldn't execute the shots properly.

In 2019 Rickelton would have gone to Stringer because his game was falling apart. He hadn't been able to get the ball off the square during the 2018-19 season. Things were so bad that he chalked his second milestone-less season. The first was his debut season for Gauteng. He featured in a single First-Class match, scored a duck and a seven, and his season was done.

In 2018-19, he featured in seven innings and every shot he played found a fielder. He finished the season with a high score of 33 and a total of 78 runs for an average of 11.14. However, in 2019, he didn't seek out Stringer, he did the opposite. He packed away all his cricket gear, didn't touch a bat or think of the game and travelled.

Rickelton was in good touch when he went to see Stringer in January 2023. He had just peeled off three centuries, two of them unbeaten, in four First Class matches for the Lions for an average of 79 in four FC matches. He also chalked two tons and two half-centuries for an average of 52 in nine List A appearances. He did all that on one leg.

Rickelton was playing with a damaged ATFL or anterior talofibular ligament. The injury happened in August 2022. Rickelton hadn't thought much of it, assuming it was a niggle. However, it had gotten worse as the months wore on. He was set on being selected for South Africa's tour so instead of going under the knife, he opted to manage the pain and injury with cortisone and PRP injections.

Rickelton was overlooked for the tour. The ankle was given as the reason for his omission. He was scoring more runs than everyone else and other wicketkeepers watched him in awe. It was enough to make one mad. That's probably why he was in a foul temper when he went to see Stringer.

Rickelton had gone to see Stringer because he wanted to tighten up his game. He planned to have a blockbuster SA20 tournament and make a bigger statement regarding his form and fitness.

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Peter Stringer has had knee and hip replacements. He blames them on Geoffrey Boycott. When the pair first met, Stringer was a 21-year-old prospect trying to work his way up from Yorkshire's second XI into the County side. Boycott was an England star in the making. It was an unlikely pairing, however, they clicked. So much so that Stringer was the first person Boycott looked for when he needed a net session.

According to Stringer, Boycott was one of the most disciplined cricketers he had encountered. The England legend faced countless deliveries in each session while working on some of the smallest parts of his batting.

"Bowling to Boycott helped me with my coaching. A lot of the stuff I have implemented is stuff I learned from those years," Stringer shared.

Ian Rickelton was one of Stringer's first students. They met in the early '70s. Ian was at Bryanston High and keen to improve his game. Ian was a useful left-handed batter at the top of the order and decent with the gloves. Ian and Stringer carried their coach-student dyad to the Wanderers Club. Ian faced a fair number of throwdowns from Stringer, however, he didn't face as many as his son would.

Ian had taught his son the basics and shot hundreds of balls from the bowling machine every day for six years, but he felt Rickelton needed better coaching, especially after he expressed a desire to play cricket professionally. Ian knew a coach whose motto was equipping youngsters with a technique they could take to professional cricket. Rickelton was 12 when Ian took him to see Stringer at Trinity House.

"He liked to go on the front foot, like any youngster his age. However, what caught my eye was how brilliant he was on the back foot," Stringer recalled their first net session.

It was the beginning of a long coach-student relationship. Rickelton became Stringer's new Boycott. Stringer asked and expected Ryan to treat net sessions like a match. There was no time to fiddle around.

“Peter helped me to build the foundation. In cricket, everyone has got all the shots and all the ideas, but have lost the fundamentals. In the longer formats, it’s those who can keep it simple for longer and do the basics better than the opposition who come out on top,” Rickelton shared.

Ian recalled watching Stringer challenge Rickelton to face up to 300 balls without hitting a single aerial shot. "He taught Ryan to value his wicket and pick his shots," said Ian.

Ian and Stringer often told Ryan about earning the right to score big runs. They felt that once a player reached 30, 40, or 60, they had earned the right to reach a milestone. They stressed to him the difference between getting yourself out versus bowlers getting you out.

'You have to enjoy your job. If you enjoy it, you will do well.' Stringer might as well have worn a t-shirt with that inscription because it was the one thing he repeated the most to Rickelton.

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Rickelton probably whispered the refrain to himself as he walked to the nets. He was in a better state of mind when he showed up to Stringer's 'lab' on day two. According to the coach, it was as if he came in intent on enjoying the session. Unsurprisingly, he had a better day.

"I like to keep things simple, no trigger movements or anything extravagant. Don Bradman didn't need a trigger and he scored a bucketload of runs," Stringer shared.

Rickelton and Stringer spent the next hour and a half tightening his game up. They worked on Rickelton getting into good positions to execute shots. The pair spent a little more time ensuring that Rickelton kept still when addressing the ball. The left-hander also focused on playing the ball late and keeping the elbow up. There were no mutterings or shots in frustration when he mistimed shots or if something didn't go well. It was as if his enjoyment of the session created a bubble that insulated him from the world around him.

Rickelton walked out of his session with Stringer without the anger from the previous day. It is what it is. There will be other opportunities in the future, he told himself.

"I've made peace with that (the past). Everything happens for a reason. So I'm taking it in my stride. I'm just enjoying being around all three formats at the moment, trying to make it work as much as I can," Rickelton shared.

Wiaan Mulder shared that going in to bat with preoccupations felt as if he was trying to face 140kph bowlers with a backpack on his back. His movements were limited and technique off-kilter. He was his best self when he focused on the present. When Rickelton went out to enjoy himself and not try to prove a point or make a statement, good things happen. His reflexes are sharper and walks on rare air.

He had fun for 498 minutes on his way to an unbeaten 202 in First-Class cricket in October 2019. That's the version of Rickelton that showed up for SA20 season two. The left-hander smashed the most runs ever in the league. He also had the second-highest strike rate among the top 10 run-scorers. This was despite the fact that MICape Town didn't make it to the playoffs.

"The last 100 was a relief. I think this one was a bit more enjoyment. I had fun out there today because I played the game I wanted to play," Rickelton shared on 3 January 2025.

He had just scored his second Test hundred, it came four matches after the first. It was as fine a ton as Rickelton could play. He didn't stutter in his footwork. The left-hander creamed back-to-back boundaries as he leapfrogged through the 90s to reach the milestone. The first was a crisp cover drive, well-timed enough to beat the sweeper on the boundary. He followed that up with an immaculate glance to the fine leg boundary. 133 deliveries later, Rickelton carved the ball to the fielder at deep point for a single to bring up his 200 runs.

Rickelton was in his bubble for 607 minutes. He walked on rare air while six partners came and went. He faced 343 balls on his way to 259. South Africa had two other centurions, and Rickelton's tally still accounted for 42% of the runs.

Rickelton's runs are the joint-highest individual score by a South African batter in Test cricket. He matched Graeme Smith's score from 2003. Smith's 259 came in his 17th Test for South Africa. Rickelton's 259 also came in his 17th Test. Statisticians will always associate Rickelton's score with Smith's. However, for Rickelton, it will be a reminder of what happens when he tightens his technique and has fun in the middle.