Chris Gayle has given Wiaan Mulder both praise and a mild rap over the knuckles after the South African stand-in captain halted his innings on 367 not out against Zimbabwe. The West Indian, once a team-mate of Brian Lara, believes Mulder missed a rare chance to threaten Lara’s long-standing Test record of 400.
“If I could get the chance to get 400, I would get 400,” Gayle told talkSPORT. “That doesn’t happen often. You don’t know when you’re going to get to a triple-century again. Any time you get a chance like that, you try and make the best out of it.”
The context
Mulder, playing only his 21st Test, walked in at No. 3 on the first morning in Bulawayo and simply stayed there: 334 balls faced, 49 fours, four sixes. South Africa were 519 for 4 at lunch on day two when he chose to declare, leaving himself 33 shy of Lara’s mark. His stated reason was respect for the record and, perhaps, a wish to move the match along on a slow surface.
Gayle accepts the sentiment but thinks the all-rounder over-thought it. “But he was so generous and said he wanted the record to stay with Brian Lara. Maybe he panicked, he didn’t know what to do in that situation,” the Jamaican said. “Come on, you’re on 367, automatically you have to take a chance at the record. If you want to be a legend… how are you going to become a legend? Records come with being a legend.”
Balance of risk and reward
From a tactical viewpoint, South Africa’s bowlers still had four full sessions to work with and eventually wrapped up victory by an innings. Declaring early, therefore, was hardly reckless captaincy. Yet Gayle argues that time remained for both objectives – the record and the win. “I think it was an error from his side, not to try and go to get it,” he said. “We don’t know if he would go on and get it or not. But he declared on 367 and he said what he had to say.”
Opposition strength cropped up in the discussion – Zimbabwe are no longer the most daunting Test attack – but Gayle batted that notion away. “It’s the same cricket, Test cricket. Sometimes you can’t even get one run against a team like Zimbabwe, if you want to put it that way. It doesn’t matter, the opponent, if you get a hundred against any team, that’s a Test century. If you get a double or triple, 400, that’s Test cricket. That’s the ultimate game.”
He signed off with a familiar flourish: “Like I said, he panicked and he blundered, straight up.”
Stokes’ captain’s perspective
Asked about the incident before England’s Lord’s Test, Ben Stokes sided, gently, with a batter’s instincts. “As captain, you’d rather do it to yourself than the captain pulling out on a groundbreaking day,” he noted. “I think he said something about how it should stay with Brian. He’s not going to get that opportunity again. They got the win, which obviously is the big thing that counts.”
What next for Mulder?
At 27, Mulder has time to chase records, but triple-centuries do not come around every year – South Africa had waited 22 years for one before Hashim Amla’s 311 in 2012. The new-look side is back in action later this month, and Mulder’s next task may simply be to back up the numbers with another solid outing rather than an epic.
Even so, Gayle’s comments tap into a wider truth about Test cricket’s allure: the game still finds room for individual milestones inside the team contest. Whether Mulder’s decision will feel wise or wasteful a decade from now remains his private puzzle.
