South African cricket could be at risk of losing yet another talent to the United Kingdom, as David Bedingham will not be part of the Western Province team in the upcoming CSA T20 Series. He is set to be with the County Cricket side Durham in the UK.
Two years ago Bedingham started a five-year process of attaining British citizenship.
The process which requires applications for passports and majority of the paperwork has been done already according to his agent.
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Despite that Bedingham is still an overseas player at Durham like Simon Harmer at Essex and Duanne Olivier at Yorkshire so he is still available for Proteas selection.
After being excluded in the recent Proteas Test team set to tour New Zealand in February he could be forced to make a decision on his international future.
In 2021 the star batsman was rewarded with a new three-year contract extension by Durham in English county cricket.
This came after he was the leading run-scorer in the 2021 County Championship overall and played for the Birmingham Phoenix in the final of The Hundred.
On signing a new contract with Durham Bedingham said:
“It feels good to have signed an extension here at Durham. If they had said I’d have been given a contract extension at the start of the year I’d have been delighted.”
“So I’m glad it’s been offered to me and I’m glad that I’ve accepted. I love the north east, I love the guys, so I’m excited. I see myself here, hopefully, long term.”
However despite missing out on selection for the New Zealand tour Bedingham is certainly one of the players the Proteas selectors Victor Mpitsang and Pat Moroney have kept an eye on for a while.
As the 27-year-old is also the leading run-scorer in the current 4-Day Series with 509 runs at 63.62.
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Bedingham Revival
On December 5, 2016, while still then at Stellenbosch University, studying finance after changing from accounting, Bedingham fell asleep at the wheel of his car on the way back from a golf day and crashed into a truck.
He didn’t play cricket again for over a year as he recovered from injuries.
There was a time when he wasn’t sure where it might leave his dreams of a professional career.
His revival from the nadir since then has been nothing short of amazing.
On his first season back playing for Boland cricket he scored a whopping 790 runs which earned him a franchise contract with the Cobras.
He scored 3 hundreds and 4 half centuries before catching the eyes of Durham in England.
In 2021 the batter was handed the Paul Collingwood Medal (Player-of-the-Year), Players’ Player-of-the-Year and Members’ Player-of-the-Year for his effort for Durham.
Bedingham was also nominated alongside fellow Simon Harmer Professional Cricketers’ Association Player of the Year award, where he jostled for the award with England Test captain Joe Root.
Many have raise eyebrows in the way the South African Cricket governing body has handled Bedingham.
Including former Cobras coach Ashwell Prince who criticized Cricket South Africa’s handling of players like him and lamented the loss of a genuine talent arguably in his prime.
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“It’s high time that CSA sits down and look at things a little bit closer and don’t beat around the bush of why people are leaving.
Get to the crux of why people are leaving. Face it, confront the brutal facts,” said Prince.
Depending on how fast can South African cricket deal with this matter all hope is not lost.
Bedingham is still an overseas player for Durham and will only be eligible to play for the England Cricket National team in 2024.
Facts about David Bedingham
- He went to Wynberg Boys’ High School same schools as his childhood idol Jacques Kallis
- In 2013 he scored a century for South Africa against England in an Under-19 Test
- He played club cricket in the Nottinghamshire Premier League for Plumtree in England.
- He made his first class debut for Western Province vs Easterns at Cape Town – March 14 – 16, 2013.
- He holds the record for Durham’s second highest Championship score of their history with 257 he scored against Derbyshire in 2021
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