Ryan Rickelton is eager to make an impact for the Central Gauteng Lions in the T20 Challenge, which starts on Friday.

Rickelton was the leading run-scorer in this year’s SA20 with 530 runs at an average of 58.89 and a strike-rate of 173.77.

While his MI Cape Town team failed to reach the playoffs, he’s hoping the Lions will go all the way in the provincial T20 tournament.

“We will have a full squad, barring KG [Kagiso Rabada] when he goes to the IPL, so we have a powerhouse team.

“Obviously we’re going for the overall win. We would be upset if we don’t get that far and we’re really looking forward to it after winning the four-day title, which was a big incentive for us because we hadn’t won that in a while.

“Now I want to make sure I make an impact for the Lions, that is hugely important for me.”

There is a thrilling prospect of Kagiso Rabada and his protégé Kwena Maphaka sharing the new ball, and a powerful batting lineup that includes other Proteas stars in Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma and Wiaan Mulder.

Mulder scored 297 runs at an average of 37.13 and strike rate of 157.14 for Durban’s Super Giants in the SA20.

He says he went into the SA20 with confidence, thanks to the freedom given to him by the Lions coaches, and a clear job description from DSG coach Lance Klusener.

“Russell Domingo and Hashim Amla have been incredible for my game, they have really motivated me and allowed me to just go and play, to break the shackles,” he said. “Because of them I took a lot of confidence into the SA20.

“I discovered a couple of new things about my game during the tournament. I worked really hard on playing spin and finishing, which is a part of the game Mark Boucher thought I lacked when he was Proteas coach.

“I spent quite a lot of time working with Heinrich Klaasen and Dwaine Pretorius, but I’m never going to be that type of batter, having a perfect swing and getting carried away hitting sixes. But I can hit space and I can score different sorts of boundaries, I can still score 50 off 25 balls.”

Central Gauteng Lions T20 Challenge squad: Ryan Rickelton, Reeza Hendricks, Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, Mitchell van Buuren, Wiaan Mulder, Evan Jones, Bjorn Fortuin, Tshepo Moreki, Codi Yusuf, Kwena Maphaka, Zubayr Hamza, Connor Esterhuizen, Junaid Dawood, Nqaba Peter, Kagiso Rabada, Delano Potgieter, Lutho Sipamla.

Photo: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images