In an unbeaten knock, Wiaan Mulder was just 33 runs short of Brian Lara’s Test record.
Having raised a lot of eyebrows by bowing out early, declaring South Africa’s innings before having a crack at a world record, Proteas captain Wiaan Mulder defended his decision on Monday by claiming he had too much respect for the legends of the game.
Mulder carried the SA team to 626/5 before they opted to close out their first innings at lunch on day two of the second Test against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo. This despite Mulder being on 367 not out, and just 33 runs short of the record held by West Indies icon Brian Lara for the highest individual Test innings.
Speaking after stumps were drawn, Mulder said he didn’t feel it was right to take Lara’s record away against minnows Zimbabwe in a career which had seen the 27-year-old all-rounder playing only 21 Tests thus far.
He also felt his team had enough runs on the board and it was best to declare the innings, even though they had nearly four days remaining to try and secure a 2-0 series victory against a struggling Zimbabwe side.
‘Lara is a legend’
“Firstly, I thought we got enough and we needed to bowl. And secondly, Brian Lara is a legend, let’s be real. He got 400 against England (in April 2004) and for someone of that stature to keep that record is pretty special,” Mulder said.
“I think if I get the chance again I’d probably do the same thing. Speaking to Shuks (Proteas coach Shukri Conrad) he said to me ‘let the legends keep the really big scores’.
“And you never know what’s destined for me, but I think Brian Lara keeping that record is exactly the way it should be.”
A ‘super special’ knock
He was nonetheless delighted to break the record of the most runs scored in an innings for South Africa.
“To be honest, I never even dreamt of getting a double hundred, never mind a triple hundred,” Mulder said.
“It’s super special and the most important thing is it put the team in a good position to hopefully win this Test.”
At the close of play, Zimbabwe had reached 51/1 in their second innings after being forced to follow on, still needing 405 runs to make the Proteas bat again.