The 28-year-old had gone through five Test matches, two One Day Internationals and six T20Is without a milestone behind his name.
Given his dominance with bat in hand in domestic cricket, many had expected the left-handed batter to hit the ground running at the highest level.
However, though Rickelton had shown his potential in international cricket, he just fell short of any milestone.
On Friday, however, at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, the 28-year-old batted his way to a maiden international half-century, and played an important hand in South Africa’s eight-wicket victory over Ireland.
Rickelton admitted to the media yesterday that the half-century came as a relief, as he aims to build a long and successful international career.
“I am hugely relieved. To be honest, in our meetings prior to this, I also mentioned it quietly to Aiden that I was looking to get the first one under the belt, just to hopefully break the shackles, more mentally, more than anything,” he said.
“I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself last night or this trip, but I was stoked to get that out of the way and hopefully I can just settle a few more,” he added.
What stood out in Rickelton’s maiden international fifty was how he took his time to read the conditions instead of rushing into playing all the big shots.
However, after the left-handed batter had acclimatised to the wicket and the conditions, he went on the attack and hit boundaries at will.
He said it was crucial for him to carve his innings carefully due to the nip and swing that was on offer under the lights on Friday night.
“We knew the threat was with the new ball under the lights; it was going to swing and with a bit of the harder seam, which was going to nip around a bit,” he said.
“So I guess the way that the group wants to play is always try to take the positive option. So I wasn’t really worried about getting out where maybe prior to that, a few times, I have been but anxious, potentially, about getting out.
“So, last night we needed a good start chasing a nice total and a pretty nice wicket as well. There wasn’t really any over-thinking or anything like that. I just tried to make sure that if I got my match up, I was fully committed to the shots and pretty clear in the way I wanted to play,” he concluded.
Rickelton will have an opportunity to add one more milestone to his young career tonight as they take on Ireland at the same venue in the second and final T20I of the series.
The match will start at 5.30 pm SAST.