Respect for Lara stops Mulder short of world Test record as SA captain declares despite being close to legend’s 400

South African captain Wiaan Mulder said respect for Brian Lara convinced him to declare 33 runs short of the former West Indies star’s world Test record against Zimbabwe at Queens Sports Club on Monday.

Mulder hammered an unbeaten 367 -- a South African record and the fifth highest score in Test cricket -- before declaring at lunch on the second day of the second Test.

South Africa’s total of 626 for five proved way beyond Zimbabwe’s reach. They were bowled out for 170 and were 51 for one in their second innings after being forced to follow on.

“Brian Lara is a legend. He got 401 or whatever it was (it was 400) against England. For someone of that stature to keep the record is pretty special,” Mulder said at the close.

“I think if I get the chance again I would do the same again.”

Mulder spoke to South African coach Shukri Conrad who agreed with his decision.

“He said to me as well, let the legend keep the record. I never know what my fate will be but letting Brian Lara keep the record is the way it should be.”

Mulder took two wickets and held a catch at slip as Zimbabwe crumbled in reply.

Brian Lara

Sean Williams, who was only allowed to bat after five wickets had fallen because of time spent off the field because of illness, slammed 83 not out off 55 balls in Zimbabwe’s only innings of substance.

Resuming on 264 not out, Mulder became the second South African triple centurion, reaching the mark off 297 balls -- the second-fastest behind India’s Virender Sehwag, who took 278 deliveries against South Africa in Chennai in 2007/08.

Mulder went past the previous highest South African individual score of 311 not out by Hashim Amla against England at The Oval in London in 2012 with successive boundaries off fast bowler Blessing Muzarabani.

Mulder faced 334 balls and hit 49 fours and four sixes off an increasingly dispirited and largely toothless Zimbabwe bowling attack.

Mulder had an inauspicious start to his Test career. He made his Test debut in February 2019 but did not score his first half-century until his 25th innings in his 15th match -- 54 against Bangladesh in Mirpur last October.

Before that he had scored a total of 401 runs -- one more than Lara’s single-innings record -- at an average of 17.43.

Picked as an all-rounder, his bowling figures at that point were better than his returns with the bat, although they were not outstanding -- 25 wickets at an average of 25.00.

He was not a guaranteed first-choice player for a South African team in search of a quality all-rounder until head coach Shukri Conrad, appointed in January 2023, gave him his unequivocal backing.

The tide turned for Mulder after the half-century in Mirpur. He made 105 not out in his next innings in the second Test against Bangladesh in Chattogram.

Having mainly batted low in the order -- his first century was made at number seven -- Conrad chose him to fill the crucial number three batting position in the Test side.

He was out for five in his first innings at number three, against Pakistan in Cape Town in January, and struggled to six off 44 balls in the first innings of the World Test Championship final against Australia at Lord’s in England last month.

But Mulder won praise for an enterprising 27 in the second innings as he and Aiden Markram laid a foundation for South Africa’s successful chase of a challenging target of 282.

Run out for 17 in the first innings of the first Test against Zimbabwe, he made a stylish 147 in the second innings, which proved a mere prelude to his effort in the second Test.

Mulder grew up in a mining area west of Johannesburg and won a scholarship to St Stithians College, one of South Africa’s leading private schools and the alma mater of Kagiso Rabada and, more recently, Ryan Rickelton and teenage prodigies Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Kwena Maphaka.

Agencies