David Bedingham breaks silence on handled-ball controversy in WTC Final: "Panicked big time"

The 31-year-old South Africa National Cricket Team middle-order batter David Bedingham has finally addressed the 'handled ball' controversy that happened in the WTC 2023-25 Final.

The Lord's Cricket Ground in London is hosting the third ICC World Test Championship Final between the South Africa National Cricket Team and the Australia National Cricket Team.

Handled-ball controversy hits WTC Final

Over the years, historic moments have happened at Lord's, and some of the best matches have been played at the venue. However, some controversial incidents have also happened there, and one was about to occur during the WTC Final.

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During the first innings of South Africa with the bat, David Bedingham, who was batting at 31 in the final over before the lunch break, tried to play a delivery from all-rounder Beau Webster off the back foot. He only managed to hit the ball inside the flap of his right pad, and it slowly started to roll down the side of his leg.

The Aussie gloveman Alex Carey was eyeing a potential catch and approached the batter, but Bedingham took possession of the ball and threw it on the ground. There was a slight appeal from the players, but the on-field umpires, Richard Illingworth and Chris Gaffaney, declared the ball dead.

This created a lot of chaos and became the biggest talking point from Day 2 of the WTC Final. As per the law, a ball becomes dead when: "whether played or not it becomes trapped between the bat and person of a batter or between items of his/her clothing or equipment, [or] lodges in the clothing or equipment of a batter or the clothing of an umpire."

Yeah, I think I panicked big time - David Bedingham

Speaking after the end of the day's play, David Bedingham said that he "panicked big time" during handled-ball chaos. He also revealed how an Australian player told him not to panic after the incident. David Bedingham elaborated:

"Yeah, I think I panicked big time. Because Carey was standing up, he was quite close. The umpires said, regardless, it was a dead ball. But I think the way I picked up the ball and dropped it came across a bit dodgy."

"I'm just glad they withdrew the appeal because there [would be] more controversy and that type of stuff. I'm glad nothing happened out of it, really. The slip cordon just told me, 'don't panic, just leave it…' but in the moment, I think I panicked big-time."

Notably, Australia skipper Pat Cummins said at the press conference that they would have withdrawn the appeal anyway had umpires not signalled a dead ball.

"Yeah, well the umpires said it was dead ball first of all, but yeah I think we probably would have withdrawn, yeah,” said Cummins.

We're very confident - David Bedingham

At the end of Day 2 of the WTC Final, Australia were at 144/8 and were leading by 218 runs. David Bedingham, meanwhile, said that the Proteas batters are highly confident of chasing whatever target they get, and there is a lot of belief in the side.

“We're very confident. I think the batters will have their plans. But yeah, I think it's an amazing day. And I think when they started batting in their third innings, I think we would have definitely had them or taken them 220-8. So, I think you're very confident and I think there's a massive belief in this team,” said Bedingham.

“I think it's just an amazing chance and I think we're all very, very excited about the opportunity to win. Like I said, it could go either way, but I think us as a team are very, very excited and there's a lot of belief in the dressing room,” he added.

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