OBAKENG MELETSE
David Bedingham is a late bloomer but he has a lot of potential to blossom into a fine Protea as South Africa continue their rebuild.
Shukri Conrad will lead a young Proteas side in their World Test Championship clash against the West Indies starting tomorrow at the Queens Park Oval in Trinidad and Tobago.
The Proteas led the way for most of the 2021-2023 Test Championship season before India and Australia seized control and made the final, which Australia won by 209 runs.
South Africa will play only their third Test match this year following their tour of New Zealand earlier in the year, where they sent their third-choice team due to conflicting schedules with the SA20. It is a tour that met all expectations, as South Africa lost 2-0 and suffered their first series loss against the Black Caps.
Despite everything that didn’t go according to plan, Bedingham got just rewards for choosing to travel with the squad instead of playing in the SA20 competition.
The 30-year-old middle-order batter has settled well into the side and he has continued his good form, scoring a solid 74 (retired out) in the warm-up match, adding to his 347 runs scored in the four Test matches he’s played, and Conrad is happy to have him in good form.
“I’d rather have an in-form batter come here than a batter out of form,” he said.”
“You search for a lot more when you’re out of form, and David is a different type of character, he is a ‘matter-of-fact’ kind of guy and just gets on with things. But he hasn’t played a county game because he had a slight niggle, so he’s fresh as a daisy.
“He is raring to go, looks in really good nick and so do most of our batters ‒ in fact, all of our batters. Some might not have gotten runs but they certainly looked like their feet were moving well, they were getting into good positions ‒ everything that you want from them.
“Long may his form continue. He’s a type of character that gets on with it. I don’t think his character changes when he scores a big hundred or he comes up with a low score.”
Bedingham will form part of a young middle order lacking in experience, but Conrad believes that if everyone sticks to their processes then everything will fall into place.
“The excitement levels are right up there, the guys are thrilled to be here. We’ve spent close to a week now. I can safely say everybody is excited and raring to go.
“We’ve got two more practices to go before the Test match and I think the guys are champing at the bit to get going. As for goals, we play any match because we want to win, that’s ideally what the goal is – to win the series. But in order for that to happen, we obviously need to follow certain processes, you’ve got to bat particularly well.’