Rickelton excited for Champions Trophy challenge after blockbuster start to 2025

Mastering all trades in international cricket is becoming a rarity but Ryan Rickelton hopes to prove he has what it takes to buck the trend.

The in-form South African has shown his class in both the shortest and longest forms of the game in recent times, starting 2025 with a magnificent 259 against Pakistan in a Test at Newlands and quickly translating that form into the SA20 to help his MI Cape Town side lift the trophy.

Rickelton’s next challenge comes in the ODI format as the Proteas go for glory at the returning ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025.

The 28-year-old has a strong domestic 50-over record and is relishing the challenge of switching formats once more, boosted by advice from a South African legend, in a bid to help his country succeed.

“The three-format player thing has faded away, it’s really difficult to fire on all three at the same time,” he said.

“But if you can ID a method and a way you want to play, especially in the two white-ball groups, that will give you the best chance.

“If you look at the guys doing it really well, your Travis Heads, your Rohit Sharmas, they play consistently in the same way across all formats – especially Travis, he is probably the leader at the moment in terms of three-format play.

“I’ve worked a lot with Hashim Amla in the last few years and he has been a phenomenal coach for me.

“He was a master of off-side play and he says sometimes when I get a bit excited, I look too leg-side. He’s always encouraging me to open up the off-side a bit more, so he always gets excited when he sees me cover drive.

“He’ll notice things in the nets, he’ll ask me why I was thinking certain things, all the stuff you don’t see on TV.”

Rickelton’s first tour as part of the senior South African squad came in Pakistan in 2021 and he returns hoping for an opportunity at the top of the order in a line-up packed with firepower.

He is fresh from 336 runs at a strike rate of 178.72 in the SA20, form he will hope to take forward to Pakistan, and is set to battle it out with Tony de Zorzi to partner captain Temba Bavuma.

“This ODI team has been a really difficult one to get in to over the past couple of years,” he said.

“Quinny (Quinton de Kock) retiring has opened the door for me to hopefully get a few games as the rest of the order is pretty locked in. It’s a very experienced squad, the guys have played a lot of international cricket together.

“I am sure the guys will be confident and it could potentially be the last one for a lot of the guys, so there’s no doubt they are up for it.”

South Africa were runners-up at last year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup and, in the months after the Champions Trophy, have another shot at silverware when they take on Australia in the ICC World Test Championship Final at Lord’s – a prospect their hard-hitting wicketkeeper-batter is already eagerly eyeing up.

“To play Australia at Lord’s in a one-off final is something none of us would have ever thought possible growing up,” said Rickelton, who was also a promising rugby and squash player in his youth – as well as breaking a Gauteng weightlifting record at under-14 level.

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“It will be incredible. Lots of my family and friends are all in London as well and I’m sure half of South Africa will be at that game – and probably half the Aussies as well.

“We are all looking forward to it but it’s still a while away and we have a hell of a lot of cricket to come.”

That starts with the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy – a competition South Africa won in 1998, when it was known as the ICC KnockOut Trophy.

Rickelton has played six ODIs in his career so far, earning a shot in the format after finishing as the leading run-scorer in South Africa’s domestic 50-over competition in 2022/23.

He averages a shade over 46 in List A cricket, with six centuries to his name, and hopes his country’s familiarity with the format will lead to a seamless transition.

“It might take a few days to get used to but growing up in South Africa, 50-over cricket is a format we play a lot of, so it’s just about tying back into that,” he said.

“I don’t think it’ll be too challenging in terms of adjusting the mindset. It’s just about trying to adjust to those conditions. There’s so much time in 50-over cricket and it's easy to forget that.

“The wickets in Pakistan can be quite good to bat on, it swings under lights and it gets quite skiddy. It will take a bit of time to adjust from the bouncier wickets here in South Africa but a lot of our guys have played plenty of times out there. We’ll have a chat, figure that out and get locked in.”