South Africa’s David Bedingham was sidelined from all the media attention despite his consistency in the County Championship Division One. In 14 matches for Durham, the 30-year-old made 926 runs at an average of 71.23 and is currently the leading run-scorer of the tournament. Despite so, Bedingham has not made the headlines, especially with Ben Stokes being on the side. 

A foreigner earning praise in England in the presence of Stokes is not something that has happened before. However, Bedingham is not bothered about that and revealed his intention to get a UK passport and play as a local player. At one point in his career, the George-born cricketer expressed his desire to represent England in international cricket but he believes that it is no more possible and is eager to prove for South Africa.

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“The plan was always to get a [United Kingdom] passport, and I’m still trying to do that and then play as a local player. I think that could happen in two years’ time from now. It would be silly for me to think of playing for a country that I’m not qualified for. If I had been playing only in England for six or seven years and I hadn’t gone back to South Africa, then there was a possibility of being eligible to play for England,” Bedingham told Cricbuzz.

“But I don’t think I truly believed or even thought of that. I would probably only have thought about that if I eventually qualified over the six years without playing in South Africa or for South Africa. It’s good to have a solid mindset – to score runs for South Africa, and do as well as I can for Western Province and Durham. It’s as clear as that,” he added.

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Bedingham will feature in the upcoming series against West Indies, where he will play a key part in the absence of Dean Elgar. After his retirement, South Africa need a new star of red-ball cricket and Bedingham is in contention to fill his massive shoes. In the warm-up game against Champs XI, the cricketer scored 74 runs and would hope to keep up with the momentum.

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