Wiaan Mulder's refusal to go after Brian Lara's record of 400 runs makes global headlines

Khaleej Times

a day ago

South Africa's stand-in captain Wiaan Mulder scored the fifth highest Test score of 367 not out against Zimbabwe on Monday but then declared his side's innings despite being only 34 runs away from the record for the most runs in a test innings.
Mulder, leading the side for the first time as a depleted team take on their neighbours in a two-Test series at Bulawayo's Queens Sports Club, hit 53 boundaries (49 fours and four sixes) in his knock to see South Africa to 626-5 at lunch on the second day of the second Test.
With plenty of time still left in the test, it was expected he would bat into the second session to chase down Brian Lara's 21-year-old record of 400 not out for the West Indies against England in Antigua but Mulder turned down the chance and declared at lunch, to put Zimbabwe into bat.
Mulder's decision to declare the innings despite having a once-in-lifetime opportunity to break one of cricket's most coveted batting records made global headlines on Monday.
But the 27-year-old, who was just 33 runs short of Lara's record of 400 not out for West Indies against England in 2003/04, had an inauspicious start to his Test career.
Mulder 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.
An outstanding schoolboy cricketer, Mulder captained South African Schools and South Africa Under-19s. He made his first-class debut for the Gauteng Lions at 18, taking seven wickets in an innings in his second match and making his maiden century a week later.
But the ascent to Test cricket's loftier heights took a little longer.
On Monday he went past Len Hutton (364) and Garry Sobers (365 not out) -– two all-time greats who both held the record for the highest score for many years.
Now, only Lara (twice), Matthew Hayden and Mahela Jayawardene have scored more runs in a Test innings.
Mulder is in exalted company -– but given the poor quality of Zimbabwe's bowling attack there are doubtless many statisticians and Test cricket traditionalists who are grateful that he did not take the final steps to the summit.