Ryan Rickelton, who has scored the most runs in the CSA One-Day Cup this season, is a candidate for selection to South Africa’s team for this month’s pivotal World Cup Super League series against England in Bloemfontein. But no one has chosen him. Dewald Brevis hasn’t either, but he has plenty of options for making good money without having to worry about representing South Africa. The second and third-highest run scorers in the ODC, Tristan Stubbs and Tony de Zorzi, likewise failed to receive a nomination.
Rickelton was passed over for South Africa’s Test series in Australia because he hadn’t undergone the ankle surgery he needed to address bone development that wasn’t normal and repair torn ligaments. It seems sensible that the selection committee didn’t want to send him halfway across the world in case he had a medical emergency during a game. CSA announced at the moment that injured players were not eligible for selection. Rickelton hasn’t had surgery yet, but injections allow him to continue competing domestically. He has four hundred along with efforts of 99 and 75 in 14 provincial innings across all forms this summer.
Did Rickelton miss the England ODIs for the same reasons that prevented him from traveling to Australia? The selection convenor for South Africa, Victor Mpitsang, said during a press conference on Wednesday, “Not at all. “Ryan has been doing a great job. It has to do with how he fits in. He is an opening batsman, but we were only able to fit 16 players into the squad. But I have no doubt that he will get his chance.” In addition to Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Janneman Malan, and others are candidates to start the batting order.
The doctors, according to Mpitsang, “made it obvious to us that, at home, the risk is not as big as when he travels abroad with his injury,” after the selectors had spoken with them. It would appear that the rule prohibiting selecting injured athletes is also optional. Brevis led MI Cape Town to a victory over Paarl Royals in the SA20 opener at Newlands on Tuesday with an undefeated 70 at a strike rate of 170.73. He is the subject of an expanding discussion in South African cricket regarding the significance of making sure that the upcoming generation of cricketers knows they are respected by the national systems at the age of 19, having already played in the IPL and the CPL.
