South Africa do not want to burn under the pressure of expectations: Ryan Rickleton

India Today

South Africa do not want to burn under the pressure of expectation, said Ryan Rickleton after the team's win against Afghanistan. South Africa started their Champions Trophy campaign in style, hammring the Dark Horses.

Transcript

00:00What we noticed from your wagon wheel was that you scored a lot of runs in front of

00:23square.

00:24What was it about conditions or the bowling that allowed you to do that?

00:29I think here in Karachi, having had that practice game here, the wickets can be quite skiddy

00:34so as a group we emphasised trying to hit a lot straighter, trying to emphasise hitting

00:43a lot straighter for a lot longer just because if it's skids you can obviously get bowled

00:47in RBW quite easy.

00:49So it was kind of a big emphasis from the team as well.

00:52It was a lot of lateral movement as well so it gave me the opportunity to really lunge

00:56forward a little bit and obviously look to hit hard down the ground, which I've been

01:01kind of doing for a period of time now.

01:03And when did you find out you were going to play this game?

01:06The usual stuff, always the night before I guess.

01:09You always get a little bit of an inkling at practice and stuff like that but when the

01:12team went up last night obviously we were stoked to be playing.

01:15And then lastly before we open up to the floor, what is it about the conditions in the tournament

01:19that makes him so good for batting?

01:21You say that but we bowled him out for 200.

01:25Obviously I think it's renowned to be generally quite good wickets.

01:28I think when the dew factor sets in it obviously skids on quite nicely as well.

01:32So I guess the fundamentals of it is it might be a bit batter friendly but you still have

01:38to execute as well.

01:40We looked at the New Zealand game, they got 300 and they won quite comfortably as well.

01:44So I think every ground is going to range and be a little bit different but if it is

01:49in favour of batting and the ball skids on quite nicely, obviously I'm quite happy with that.

01:56Ryan, scoring double hundred against Pakistan, then winning SA20 for MI Cape Town and scoring

02:03a debut 100 in Champions Trophy.

02:06So just talk us through your rollercoaster ride, Purple Patch, especially for the last

02:11three months, the way you are performing all three formats.

02:14Yeah, if you had to ask me a few months ago would I be sitting here and things work out

02:19the way they do, I would obviously say no but it's kind of the point where just really

02:24trying to simplify my batting, I have quite a nice foundation in what I wanted to achieve

02:28at the moment.

02:29I always want to be a three format player so to have that base is quite nice and to

02:36see that the results in the three different formats over the last two months has been

02:40quite warming for me as well.

02:43But I think when I dumb it down a little bit for even myself is just trying to obviously

02:48emphasise more mindset and approach.

02:50If you look at the guys that play three formats really well, like Travis Head, Shubman Gilles

02:56all play similar cricket across all three formats.

02:59So I'm really just trying to keep it simple, be confident in the way I'm trying to play

03:03and obviously look to make an impact.

03:06Hi Ryan, congratulations on the century, but I would like to ask a question about South

03:12Africa, the body you were behind the wicket, so you guys have played a form of match over

03:17the year, you've batted 1,200 runs but in the second innings the ball was bouncing like

03:22they were in Australia or South Africa.

03:24So tell us a bit about that, did it change after the lights went on or what was the overall

03:31effort?

03:33We thought, I heard all this about the whack-a-clay or something like that, it looked a bit, a

03:37lot harder and a lot drier the wicket when we got here obviously today.

03:40It wasn't a wicket that we had the practice game on so it was a bit different for us but

03:44throughout the game I felt the wicket was quite quick as Matt was getting it through

03:49and obviously we have some quick bowlers in our team, KG and Marco could really push it

03:54through, even Vian was getting it through nicely too.

03:57I think the wicket had pace in it, no doubt about it, but I think the variability on the

04:02bounce is what made it quite challenging for both teams.

04:05I think we just had the extra yard, the extra height to extract maybe a little bit more

04:10out of it.

04:11Having chatted to the New Zealanders yesterday about the wicket, they said that when the

04:17due didn't set in it actually got a little bit tacky under lights.

04:20Probably was the same today, it spun a little bit more as well and that's I guess hence

04:25the decision to bat first.

04:33Vian, this is a tournament which South Africa won already many years ago, so you are very

04:39close in 2023 as well.

04:41So how is the desperation not only you but others, Markram, Wunder Doosan of course,

04:48then Klaassen, this is the so-called once in a generation batting line.

04:53Do you think this is the best chance to have won the ICC tournament with your batting,

04:57with your bowling and how desperate are you guys to win the ICC trophy again?

05:00Yeah, obviously we are desperate to win it, there's no doubt about it, but in saying that

05:05we don't burn in ourself with that extra pressure.

05:07If you look at our ODI group from the World Cup in 2023 I think it was in India, I mean

05:13that side that was playing there was a phenomenal, was a powerful side as well.

05:17So again, I don't think there's any extra pressure on the guys.

05:20Everyone's gained that extra year of experience, that extra year of knowledge on what they're

05:25trying to do and how they're trying to do it.

05:27Again, I think as a group we might not have had the best results coming into this tournament,

05:31but quietly I think everyone's quite confident.

05:34We do have incredibly good players in this team, not just in the team but obviously the

05:38whole squad as well.

05:39So there's guys that are maybe a bit young in the side as well that are also looking

05:44to make an impact.

05:46But yeah, I don't think we're too burdened by obviously the hunt to obviously win the

05:51whole thing.

05:52Obviously we're here to do that, but we don't let that restrict us.

05:56We're obviously here to play our best game, have fun, enjoy each other's companies.

06:01Again, ICC events, it might be the last for a few guys as they get a bit older, we don't

06:05know either.

06:06So guys are really just trying to enjoy it and hopefully that extra bit of experience

06:11and the extra bit of knowledge can take us over the line.

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