Bedingham fuses old-school mettle with new-age urgency

David Bedingham is a first-choice Test player.

Perhaps the only one in South Africa's squad in New Zealand, but most definitely one.

And he showed it with his first Test century in his fourth match; the only hundred of the Hamilton Test so far and a knock that oozed class, confidence and a combination of old-fashioned temperament and new-age urgency. It was an innings that confirmed that even if South Africa were not forced to send a makeshift squad on this trip, Bedingham would have been in the touring party.

With a decade-long professional career and a first-class average that sits a shave under 50, you may even wonder why you haven't seen Bedingham sooner. The answer is because he wasn't always sure he wanted to play for South Africa.

Bedingham left the domestic system four years ago to take up a deal with Durham - playing as a local on an ancestral visa and flirted with the possibility of qualifying for England.

He has since changed his mind, and though he will continue to try and get a British passport for post-career opportunities, he has committed his international playing future to South Africa's Test team. He even chose not to put his name in the SA20 draft - and because he is not nationally contracted, he had no obligation to - so that he could work on securing a Test spot. Now, he can consider that done.

In a line-up where the top order - all debutants last week - has been exposed against high-quality swing, seam and pace in New Zealand, Bedingham has had to come in tricky positions in each of his four innings. In the first Test, South Africa were 30 for 3 and 68 for 3 and he made 32 and 87. In the second Test, they were 63 for 3 and 39 for 3. The most precarious of those situations was the latest, where they had a lead of only 70, more than half the Test still to play, and South Africa desperate to set New Zealand a decent target.

He was greeted with a delivery from Will O'Rourke that reared off the surface and that he just managed to fend off with his gloves. In O'Rourke's next over, Bedingham responded with a crack through the covers off a short, wide ball. And so began the cat and mouse game between the two most impressive players on the day, who only had praise for each other at its conclusion.

For Bedingham, the challenge was adjusting to O'Rourke's high release point and the movement he was getting. "He definitely presented a different challenge," he said afterwards. "I don't think I have faced [Morne] Morkel before but it felt like that. He bowled with great energy the whole day and got the ball to move back. He looks very, very good."

For O'Rourke, it was about keeping his lines tight and trying to bowl fuller because of Bedingham's strong ability to score runs square of the wicket. "He batted really well on a slower-ish deck. He punches through the off side really well. If you give him any width, he seems to latch on to that," O'Rourke said. "We tried to attack with some short stuff for a little bit and he played that pretty well too, so we just went back to keeping it simple."

For now, Bedingham has won the battle. His proactive approach meant that unlike someone like Zubayr Hamza, who faced 63 balls for his 17 runs, Bedingham was always looking to score. "The way that I play is a positive brand," he said. "When they had attacking fields there is always the opportunity to score. I kind of tried to score and I am thankful and lucky enough that it worked."

He targeted Rachin Ravindra, taking 31 runs off the 32 balls he faced from him, and Neil Wagner, who bowled 25 balls to him and conceded as many runs. His overall strike rate was 78.01, and he had a foil in Keegan Petersen, who played a patient role at the other end but may still be wondering if 43 is enough to buy him any more time in the Test side. Petersen was dropped twice in two seasons and has struggled to kick on since his Player-of-the-Series performance against India two summers ago.

Bedingham made his debut against India this season and scored 56 in an innings that suggested there was more to come. That more has come at the best time, just as South Africans, including maybe some South African players, are starting to take notice of their national team again after the SA20 concluded at the weekend. Have any of the main players been in touch? Not with Bedingham, it seems. "The time zones are quite tough so when we are playing, they're sleeping, and most guys have been busy playing the SA20," he said.

And has he wondered whether he could have been at the high-octane, big-money event instead of battling it out in New Zealand? "I don't want to look back at not throwing my name in the draft," he said. "I just hope this innings can win us a game and draw the series. I am not looking at the SA20."

He doesn't need to, for now. There's every chance the tournament will come calling next year, or the year after that, and Bedingham could find himself with another tough decision to make. But that's a concern for another day. For tomorrow, all he wants is that his 110 - which he celebrated in modest fashion with a raising of the bat and a hug with his partner Ruan de Swardt - and the target of 267 are enough, with the knowledge it should have been more.

South Africa collapsed from 202 for 4 to 235 all out, losing six wickets for 33 runs. There will be questions over shot selection - did de Swardt have to sweep when he did, exposing middle and off stump; did Shaun von Berg have to attempt a big shot when all the recognised batters were dismissed? - and they will be moot. It's worth remembering that this Test team is highly unlikely to play together again.

What matters for them is the next 24 hours and how much they can capitalise on de Swardt's first innings 64, Dane Piedt's career-best 5 for 89, and, mostly, Bedingham's first Test century. All those things have given South Africa the unlikeliest of chances to pull off a heist and retain their record of never losing a Test series to New Zealand. Whatever happens, Bedingham has proved he is the real deal.