Nervous Rickelton delivers match-winning century v Afghanistan

Ryan Rickelton’s first on-field appearance in an ICC event resulted in a brilliant century and a player-of-the-match award as South Africa posted a total of 315-6 to set up a commanding 107-run victory in their opening fixture of the Champions Trophy at the National Stadium in Karachi on Friday.

“I was a little nervous, being my first game in an ICC event, but I’m obviously delighted with the way it went and especially with the result,” Rickelton said afterwards.

His innings of 103 from just 106 balls ended in unfortunate circumstances when he was run out by his MI Cape Town captain, Rashid Khan, whose throw to ‘keeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz off his own bowling appeared to be in vain with Rickelton’s dive back into his crease looking safe – until replays showed his bat had bounced above the crease and was never grounded.

“It wasn’t the easiest pitch I’ve played on but all credit to the other guys for getting us to a competitive total. It’s always disappointing to get out in a way like that – I said to Rash that he threw the ball at my head so I had to get out of the way – but it was unfortunate because we were probably looking to pull the trigger a few overs after that.

“But all credit to the guys who came in after me for still pulling the trigger and getting us to a competitive score, especially Aiden (Markram) who hit some crucial boundaries at the end,” Rickelton said.

South Africa’s second match is against Australia on Tuesday and they complete their group games against England on Saturday, 1 March.

South Africa:  Ryan Rickelton (wk), Tony de Zorzi, Temba Bavuma (captain), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Wiaan Mulder, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Noor Ahmad