Wiaan Mulder’s bat was still warm when he walked off at lunch in Bulawayo on day two, unbeaten on 367 and happy to stay that way. South Africa’s stand-in captain declared before any talk of chasing Brian Lara’s 400 not out could gather pace, a decision that left the West Indian’s 20-year-old Test record untouched but still gave his own side ample time to bowl at Zimbabwe.
“Well, first things first, I thought we got enough from him to bowl. And secondly, Brian Lara is a legend, let’s be real,” Mulder told Shaun Pollock on television straight after play. “He got 401 [400] or whatever it was against England. And for someone of that stature to keep that record is pretty special. I think if I get the chance again, I’d probably do the same thing. I know I was speaking to Shuks [coach Shukri Conrad].”
The 26-year-old did not stop there. “He kind of said to me as well, like listen, let the legends keep the really big scores. You never know what’s my fate or whatever you want to call it, what’s destined for me. But I think Brian Lara keeping that record is exactly the way it should be.”
That self-imposed ceiling did not prevent Mulder from re-writing a few pages of South Africa’s own record book. He is now only the second South African to make a Test triple-hundred, and his 367 overtook Hashim Amla’s 311 as the national benchmark. The rate was brisk too – the second-fastest triple in Test history – yet Mulder insisted the tempo felt calm from the middle.
“I mean, there was a lot of thoughts,” he admitted later. “In the end, it’s just singing my song between balls and trying to keep myself natural and trying to keep myself present. Kept feeling my shoes, that type of thing to make sure I’m in the moment and not too far ahead.”
Music played an unlikely supporting role. “Well, in Bangladesh, it was an Afrikaans song that I got to my hundred with and I lost it a little bit along the way. And in this song, in this game, it was Zombie by The Cranberries. So I just sing, zombie.”
The moment he passed Amla drifted by almost unnoticed. “And to be honest, when I went past Hash’s score, I didn’t really notice what actually happened until I looked up. I was on 312. I was like, oh, wow! I was just on 300. I don’t know how I got there, but yeah, I was truly special.”
Mulder’s innings represents a striking jump from the raw teenager who debuted for the Proteas eight years ago. Time with Leicestershire in county cricket, he says, helped refine his method and mindset.
“I think when I started playing with South Africa, I was nowhere near good enough, to be honest with you, Polly,” he conceded in typically blunt fashion. “It did offer me a lot of opportunities to learn from great players who have retired now, and some guys are still playing. But going to England really gave me a chance to understand what type of batter I want to be as well and figure out some technical things.”
Front-pad discipline proved a particular focus. “I think I came across the ball for a very large portion of my career. And in England, if your front pad’s in the way, you kind of get exposed quickly. So those were lessons. I mean, there’s many more I can name, but those were lessons that I continuously kept learning in England as well as in South Africa.”
Those adjustments have started to show at home too. “Batting at the Wanderers is pretty difficult. So, yeah, I think it’s all put me in a good place. The head coach, Justin Sammons of Zimbabwe, played a massive role in my” — the sentence trailed off as team-mates interrupted the interview, a reminder that even record-breaking days have practical limits.
For South Africa the declaration looked pragmatic: runs on the board, time in the game, and Lara’s number still shining unchallenged. For Zimbabwe, meanwhile, a long afternoon with the bat awaited, with Mulder’s restrained 367 already looming as more than enough.
