Waiting game almost over for Bedingham in final Proteas push

A LITTLE over a month ago, Proteas batter David Bedingham suffered a broken toe in his first fixture of the season back with Durham in the County Championship, keeping him out of action.

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As a result, at some point, there was a concern about his availability for the World Test Championship final.

However, all those concerns were put to bed when Proteas all-format coach Shukri Conrad included the 31-year-old middle-order batter in his squad this week for the June 11-15 final against Australia in London.

"In my first game, I got hit by the ball on my toe, and it broke my toe. So, it’s been frustrating because I think the thing with the toe is you can't do much rehab... there's nothing you can do," Bedingham told Independent Media in an exclusive interview yesterday.

"You just have to wait for the bone to heal. So, firstly, in the second or third week, there hasn't been much pain.

"But the only unfortunate thing is I can't play. So, it's been quite frustrating.

"I've been limited to doing what I can. So, it's been a lot of gym work, quite a bit of walking the dog and the type of stuff like that, but not too intense.

"And then maybe this last week, I've ramped it up with a bit of running, a bit of batting, a bit of gym work. So, it's been quite good."

The time out from the game might have hindered the right-hand batter's plans of getting as much time in the middle as possible to be ready for the WTC final.

However, he did admit that it was a blessing in disguise as he needed the break from the game.

For the last three seasons, Bedingham has been playing non-stop, spending the South African summer with Western Province in Cape Town, and the winters in the United Kingdom competing in the County Championship.

That has meant that the 31-year-old has had very little rest, especially since he made his Test debut two years ago, as his calendar got even busier with international cricket added.