Rickelton shows good form with gritty century for Lions

Ryan Rickelton scored his 19th first class century on Saturday, providing the perfect foundation on a personal level ahead of a vital season for the left-hander.

His as yet unbeaten 113 was also crucial in the context of the DP World Lions’ position in their opening match against Boland, who drew the competition’s defending champions into a scrap at the Wanderers.

Having reduced Boland to 90/6 on Friday thanks to a bewildering spell from 18 year old debutant JJ Basson, who finished with 7/62, the Lions allowed Boland to gain a first innings lead of 34 runs.

The rest of the home team’s attack struggled to find the right length on an easy-paced surface with Lehan Botha scoring a career-best 170 which included 20 fours and five sixes, many of those boundaries coming from the cuts and pulls with a young Lions attack, featuring three debutants, bowling too short.

Rickelton held firm as the hosts slipped to 118/5, and a partnership with former SA under-19 captain, Wandile Makwetu worth 82, helped them stretch their lead to 166 when bad light stopped play.

Rickelton, who also made 49 in the first innings, will have ensured a level of comfort about one part of SA’s batting ahead of the Test series with Australia next month.

There are still plenty of questions for Proteas coach Shukri Conrad and selector Patrick Maroney to ponder about the composition of the batting unit for the first Test at Kingsmead. Aiden Markram and Rickelton, appear to be locked in, along with skipper Temba Bavuma, but crucial decisions need to be made at no.3 and in the middle order.

While the Australians continue to back Marnus Labuschagne at 3, South Africa have some options to consider, which could also impact the balance of the starting XI.

Although Rickelton made his runs batting at no.3 against Boland, he will in all likelihood resume his partnership at the top of the order with Markram. South Africa’s limited Test schedule has meant the pair have only opened together in six Tests. In South Africa’s last Test series in India a year ago, they shared three half-century partnerships in four innings.

Conrad hasn’t locked in one batter at no.3 since becoming head coach, with Wiaan Mulder, Tristan Stubbs, Rickelton and Tony de Zorzi all occupying that position.

Depending on the balance of the starting team for the Durban Test, Mulder may go back to the spot he first batted in as an emergency measure when he broke his hand in a Test against Sri Lanka in 2024. He was somewhat surprisingly retained in that position for the World Test Championship final, and coped reasonably well in the high pressure fourth innings in that match sharing a crucial partnership with Markram, while scoring 27.

Famously he made two hundreds there against Zimbabwe, but last played there in the first Test at Eden Gardens last year, before being dropped back to no.6 for the second Test, with Stubbs resuming occupation of that spot.

Mulder would start at Kingsmead if SA would like five bowling options.