1029 county runs, twin hundreds back home: South Africa batter’s Test recall case is hard to ignore

David Bedingham presses cause for Test recall

Asked to bat, WP rode on a 187-run second-wicket stand between Jiveshan Pillay (105) and Bedingham to post 376 as Bryce Parsons picked up 3-36. Semal Pillay (120) and captain Marques Ackermann (107) then squeezed out a 25-run lead for the Dolphins. For WP, Raeeq Daniels had 3-68 and Kyle Simmonds 3-88.

Prenalen Subrayen (4-88) then had WP in trouble at 99-4, but Bedingham’s second hundred of the game helped captain Daniel Smith declare on 281-7 on the last day. Josh Richards (56) and Ackermann (60) kept the Dolphins in the hunt until 106-2 and then 155-3, but they eventually caved in against Simmonds (4-91).

From 15 Tests, Bedingham has 828 runs at 36.00. These include 110 (his only Test hundred) at Hamilton in 2024, where he was one of a handful of cricketers who prioritised the Test tour ahead of the SA20, and vital contributions of 45 and 21 not out in the 2023-2025 World Test Championship final at Lord’s.

Bedingham featured in the Zimbabwe tour that followed, where South Africa fielded several second-string cricketers. However, they left him out of the twin tours of Pakistan and India in late 2025.

These runs will reinforce his case ahead of a packed home series, where South Africa will host Australia, England, and Bangladesh, and a tour of Sri Lanka – especially after he topped the 1,000-run mark in the 2026 County Championship. There, he has been a rock for Durham for some time now.

David Bedingham’s twin tons in first-class cricket

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