Five things to know about Proteas’ latest Test centurion, David Bedingham

South Africa’s latest Test centurion, David Bedingham, has given the Proteas a fighting chance of winning the second Test against New Zealand in Hamilton which would level the two-match series at 1-1.

South Africa, who have never lost a Test series against the Black Caps, lost the first Test in Mount Maunganui last week.

Bedingham kept the South African second innings together on Wednesday with a stunning maiden Test ton of 110 off 141 balls.

New Zealand will resume their run-chase of 267 on Thursday to win the Test and the series.

Here are five things to know about Bedingham:

Vital stats

Bedingham was born in George on April 22, 1994, which makes him 29 years old. He is a right-handed batter that usually plays in the middle order. He is an occasional wicket-keeper.

He attended Wynberg Boys High School in Cape Town and played junior cricket for Western Province while he also represented the SA U19 team and Colts side.

Provincial cricket

He made his first class debut for Northerns in the 2012/13 provincial three-day competition in March 2013, but later played for Boland. In the 2017/18 season he scored 790 runs in the three-day cup competition from eight matches. In the same season’s one-day cup competition he scored 283 runs in seven matches.

Later in 2018 he debuted for the Cape Cobras and in 2019/20 he also played in the provincial T20 competition.

Move to England

In 2020 he joined Durham and a year later, after the UK had left the European Union, he became one of the club’s two overseas players. He hit 180 for his new club and followed that up with a first first-class double ton of 257 in the English County Championship, cementing his place in Durham history and at the same time giving the South African selectors plenty to think about.

In 2021 he was picked by Birmingham Phoenix to play in the Hundred.

Proteas selection

In December of last year, Bedingham made his South African debut, scoring an impressive 56 in his first knock against India at Centurion (SA didn’t bat a second time in the match).

In the second Test in Cape Town, on a shocking pitch, he scored 12 and 11. He then gave up the chance to play in the SA20 to feature for an under-strength Proteas team in New Zealand and scored 32 and 87 in a losing cause in the first Test in Mount Maunganui, before he made 39 and 110 in the second Test in Hamilton.

Career stats

In his seven Test innings so far he has scored 347 runs at an average of 49.57, with highest score 110. He’s gone past 50 on two other occasions (56 and 87). His Test strike-rate is 67.64.

In 91 first class cricket matches he’s scored 6,338 runs at an average of 49.51, with 19 hundreds and 24 50s, at a healthy strike-rate of 65.