South Africa pair make push for selection at T20 World Cup

South Africa duo Anrich Nortje and Ryan Rickelton are hoping to use the ongoing SA20 tournament on home soil to push their case for a spot in the Proteas' squad for the upcoming ICC Men's T20 World Cup.

The pair have made a flying start to the domestic 20-over event, with Nortje collecting a four-wicket haul for Sunrisers Eastern Cape in their match with Paarl and Rickelton smashing a superb century for MI Cape Town in an earlier fixture against Durban's Super Giants.

It bodes well for the experienced duo just days out from South Africa's squad announcement for the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, with spots in the Proteas' 15-player group likely at a premium given their wealth of riches in all departments.

Nortje was South Africa's leading wicket-taker at the most recent edition of the T20 World Cup in 2024 when he claimed 15 wickets as the team finished as the runners up behind India and the 32-year-old is hoping to stay injury free and keep his momentum going prior to the start of the tournament on February 7.

"Hopefully I get selected but for now it's just to try and build, take it game by game and day by day," Nortje said.

"I had a nice little build up starting with the CSA T20 challenge and then got the call up for the India series. I'd call it the ideal build up.

"From here on it's just to try and execute and work on one or two things.

"It's also so busy, so it's just to try and keep momentum going, keep a clear head and keep focus. I'd probably call it the ideal build up just from where I was a few months ago to now."

Rickelton seems less certain of automatic selection than Nortje, though the left-hander issued a timely reminder with his innings of 113 for MI Cape Town at the start of the SA20 event.

Whether it was enough to push the 29-year-old up the pecking order of South Africa's bevy of strong top-order options remains to be seen, but Rickelton has made vital contributions to the Proteas' cause at both the ICC Champions Trophy event at the start of the year and their run to a first ICC World Test Championship title at Lord's in June.

"It's been an up and down year. It started really nicely but at the back end, had a tough white ball leg in India," he said.

"It was a tough last couple of months mentally. I can be quite negative and sometimes in cricket we dive into our heads very easily and it's tough to get away. That's what I think makes touring the sub-continent quite hard is that it's tough to get out of your own head."

Rickelton said the focus for him was making a contribution at domestic level and letting international selection take care of itself.

"I am just trying to find my feet again with the bat and contribute," Rickelton said.

"I'm at peace with whatever happens. Obviously this tournament is a platform for players to put their hands up but I'm definitely not thinking about it (the T20 World Cup). I am just trying to enjoy the game again which maybe when you're not finding (a spot in the team) in India, can be quite hard."

South Africa are drawn in Group D at the T20 World Cup and face matches against Afghanistan, Canada, New Zealand and the UAE during the opening group stage of the competition.