David Bedingham back from toe injury to boost Proteas' chances in World Test Championship final

Proteas coach Shukri Conrad’s contagious smile will be just a bit broader this week after David Bedingham returned from injury for his English County Championship side Durham.

The middle-order batter had fractured his toe at the start of the County season and was in a race against time to be fit for the Proteas’ all-important World Test Championship final against Australia at Lord’s next month. 

He was in the Durham squad for last week’s match against Nottinghamshire, but had not yet been given the clearance from Cricket SA. However, after a six-week layoff, Bedingham played a full part in this past weekend’s seven-wicket defeat to Somerset. 

The 31-year-old batted in both Durham’s innings, scoring just 17 and eight. 

Conrad will not be too fussed with Bedingham’s contributions, but rather the fact that he managed to get through the match injury free and spent close to an hour at the crease. 

More perturbing though has been the form of Proteas wicket-keeper Kyle Verreynne. After a century on debut for fellow English County Championship side Nottinghamshire, Verreynne has gone drastically off the boil over the past month. 

The 28-year-old has regularly got starts for Notts without converting it into anything substantial with a top score of 41 since the century back in April. 

The Proteas play a warm-up game against Zimbabwe in Arundel, Sussex from June 3–6, for one final opportunity for the likes of Bedingham and Verreynne to fine tune their skills ahead of the much-anticipated Lord’s Test, starting on June 11.