Rickelton's mammoth knock ends on 259, after Verreynne also notches ton

Ryan Rickelton’s mammoth innings finally ended 10 minutes before tea as he not only put his name among the greats of the South African game but also put his side in a dominant position at a sun-baked Newlands on Saturday. 

At the interval, the Proteas were on 566/7, after Rickelton’s 259, with Marco Jansen on 57 and Keshav Maharaj on 2. 

Kyle Verreynne had added another century for South Africa earlier, the fourth of his career and the first at his home ground, which would have gone a long way towards assuaging the disappointment of last week’s soft dismissals in the first Test.

Rickelton’s innings is the eighth highest by a South African batter and showed emphatically that Shukri Conrad was right to back him to open the batting after Tony de Zorzi picked up a thigh injury in the first Test. 

It has created another intriguing selection conundrum for Conrad but fortunately that next Test is only in June. 

On this perfect summer’s day, Rickelton continued his remorseless dismantling of Pakistan’s bowling, with the tourists looking defeated as the session unfolded.   

Earlier Verreynne was able to celebrate in front of his home crowd after an adventurous century that included nine fours and five sixes as he took advantage against Pakistan’s lethargic attack. 

He made exactly 100 and was out sweeping to give Salman Agha his third wicket. Verreynne’s partnership with Rickelton was worth 148. 

Thereafter followed a bruising half-century from Jansen, who took 42 balls to bring the third fifty of his career, hitting seven fours and three sixes. 

But Rickelton was the man, receiving a standing ovation from a crowd who have enjoyed his exploits at this venue in the SA20, for the MI Cape Town franchise. He spoke on Friday about the love he had for Newlands, having previously made two centuries in the only two first-class matches he has played here for the DP World Lions. 

This knock, was certainly much more important, and of a far higher standard than anything he’s made in provincial colours. It took 10 hours and 15 minutes to complete and saw him face 343 balls, off which he hit 29 fours and three sixes.