South Africa's legendary pacer Dale Steyn has slammed Cricket South Africa (CSA) for not including David Bedingham in their central contract list announced on March 26. Bedingham did not give his name in the SA20 Auction and was a part of South Africa's second-string Test squad on the New Zealand tour while the senior players played in the franchise T20 League.
Steyn said he will not be surprised if he snubs CSA in the future and plays for another country.
“Do we want him to go back to the UK, CSA genuinely forcing his hand, and if he did, I’d shake it and say well done,” he wrote on X.
While South Africa suffered a historic 0-2 defeat against the Tim Southee-led side, Bedingham scored 110 in the Hamilton Test.
The 29-year-old batter has scored 347 runs from seven innings at an average of 49.57 including one century and two half-centuries. He is a consistent performer in First-class cricket, scoring 6,338 runs at an average of 49.51 from 90 games including 19 centuries and 24 half-centuries.
Notable absentees from CSA’s central contracts list –
Apart from Bedingham, senior players Quinton de Kock and Anrich Nortje are also missing from the list. De Kock retired from ODIs after the 2023 World Cup in India. However, he wants to continue playing T20I cricket for South Africa.
On the other hand, Nortje has been out of action due to injuries. He missed the ODI World Cup 2023 and hasn’t played international cricket since September 9, 2023. He returned to competitive cricket earlier this month in the domestic T20 tournament. He has yet to play a game for Delhi Capitals (DC) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.
List of players in CSA's central contracts list –
Temba Bavuma, Nandre Burger, Gerald Coetzee, Tony de Zorzi, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, and Rassie van der Dussen.
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