KICK RUST INNIE DUST

GOING into the World Test Championship final at Lord’s next week, Proteas opening batter Ryan Rickelton believes they have enough experience to adapt to red-ball cricket, despite last playing a Test in the New Year’s fixture at Newlands six months ago.

There were concerns around the captain Temba Bavuma and his Proteas’ preparations ahead of the showpiece event, as key manne had been focused on the IPL, while others were in their off-season at home over the past few weeks.

However, Rickelton told the media, before the team’s departure to England last week, that every player in the squad possesses the necessary experience to make the required mental and technical shift back to Test cricket.

The 28-year-old highlighted that leaving the IPL early was crucial, as it allowed time to prepare in South Africa before heading to England for the final phase of preparations.

Rickelton wyses: “It was important to come home and not finish the IPL. I think if we’d managed to finish the IPL, it would have been very tight to try and prepare accordingly.

“We have enough time. We’ve all played enough cricket; we know when we’re hitting the ball well or when we’re ahead of ourselves, and so on and so forth.

“There’s a lot of work that the guys put in behind the scenes. So, we’ll be hitting hundreds and thousands of balls over the next few weeks to ensure we get back to our basics and adjust as best we can to the conditions.”

Rickelton pointed out that both teams - SA and Australia - are in a similar situation regarding preparation quality, as many Australian players were also involved in the IPL.

He adds: “I think for both teams, everyone was in the same boat.

"The majority of their players were in India, and the majority of our players were in India as well. There were guys who had time to prepare at home, both in South Africa and Australia. It gives us a clean slate.”