On October 30, 2026, during South Africa’s second innings against Australia at Newlands in Cape Town, Ryan Rickelton and Wiaan Mulder both scored hundreds, setting a world record. The two childhood friends, who both graduated from St. Stithians College in Johannesburg, ended a drought that began in 1989 when they became the first No. 6 and No. 7 hitters to each score a hundred in the second innings of a Test match.
Australia needed to score 288 runs to win the series-deciding third Test on the last day after South Africa’s second innings ended at 387 in 134.4 overs. Before that last day, the series between the two teams was tied at one.
Ryan Rickelton scored 101 off 219 balls
Before being run out in the 120th over, Ryan Rickelton scored 101 off 219 balls and hit 12 boundaries. Josh Inglis was involved in the dismissal. Mulder then hit 115 off 221 balls, including four sixes and ten fours. South Africa went from 181 for 5 to 335 for 6 after the two batted together for almost 54 overs and added 154 runs for the sixth wicket. As Mulder neared his hundred, Kagiso Rabada offered helpful support at the other end. Pat Cummins then dismissed Mulder to end the innings at 387.
There have only been four instances in the format’s history of a No. 6 and No. 7 batter scoring a century in the second innings of a team’s Test match. Before Newlands 2026, the most recent example occurred in 1989 when Steve Waugh and Dean Jones of Australia both scored three figures in a second innings against Sri Lanka in Hobart. That 37-year lapse highlights how infrequently the circumstances, batting order, and game circumstances coincide to enable two batters in the lower middle order to score a hundred in the same second inning.
As of right now, Ryan Rickelton and Mulder are the first South African couple and only the fourth pair overall to achieve this. Giving both batters the time and platform to turn starts into hundreds, their 154-run sixth-wicket partnership was crucial to the record.
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Going back even further, in 1937, Jack Fingleton and Don Bradman, two of Australia’s greatest players, scored hundreds against England in a second innings at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. This was the second instance on this list. When this Newlands record is discussed, that match at the MCG deserves special recognition along with the 1989 Hobart instance because it is among the first verified instances of a No. 6 and No. 7 pair accomplishing the feat.
Now that Ryan Rickelton’s 101 and Mulder’s 115 have been added to that short list, the Proteas are in elite company after almost 90 years of Test cricket.
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