HOME, SWEET HOME – Rickelton banking on Newlands magic in Oz Test decider

NewsSportLifestyleEntertainmentOpinionSport CricketHOME, SWEET HOME – Rickelton banking on Newlands magic in Oz Test deciderZaahier Adams|Published 21 minutes agoCopy to ClipboardAsk AIRIGHT AT HOME: Proteas wicket-keeper batter Ryan Rickelton has scored a vrag runs at Newlands

While that may sound odd coming from someone who grew up on the Highveld and played all his domestic cricket for the Lions, Ryan Rickelton has developed a deep affection for Newlands.

And it’s why Rickelton is looking forward to the deciding third Test between the Proteas and Australia at the iconic venue tomorrow.

While Table Mountain, towering over the Railway Stand, has a special allure and the tradition of the grand old dame can be intoxicating, Rickelton’s love for Newlands is purely self-serving.

It was here that Rickelton spent 10 hours in the New Year sun compiling a career-best 259 and he has scored the hele runs for MI Cape Town over the past four seasons in the SA20.

Furthermore, in three first-class matches at Newlands, Rickelton has never walked off the hallowed turf with anything less than a century to his name.

Rickelton wysed: “I walked out here and I said to Kruger [van Wyk, Proteas fielding coach], ‘It’s good to be home’.

“I think a lot of batters know the venues where they do well, whether that’s in domestic or international cricket.

“To come back to a ground where I’m very familiar with both red-ball and white-ball cricket, and where I’ve had some good success, is quite comforting for me.

“You kind of bank that up, no matter how well you’re playing at the moment or where you are, where you find yourself.

“But to come back to a place of familiarity, a place of success, recent success, past success as well, is something I think batters and players have a lot of confidence in and can draw from that.”

With Rickelton expected to keep his place behind the stumps, the Proteas are likely to make only one enforced change, with either Dane Paterson or Gerald Coetzee replacing the injured Anrich Nortje in the playing XI.