Il Nuovo Postiglione - Wiaan Mulder: slow ascent to Test cricket's batting heights

Mulder made 367 not out for South Africa in the second Test against Zimbabwe at the Queens Sports Club before deciding –- in his first match as captain –- to declare South Africa's innings on 626 for five at lunch on the second day.

He was just 33 runs short of Brian Lara's record of 400 not out for West Indies against England in 2003/04. Given the rate at which he scored his runs, off 334 balls, Mulder might not have needed much more than half an hour to climb to Test cricket's batting pinnacle.

He raced past Hashim Amla's previous best for South Africa –- 311 not out against England at The Oval in 2012 –- and climbed to fifth on the world list before his declaration.

Mulder, 27, 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.

- Batting promotion -

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.

T.Cusumano--INP