07/07/25 07:58:00
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07/07 19:53 CDT Mulder lets 'legend' Lara keep record 400 so SA can begin
bowling out Zimbabwe twice
Mulder lets 'legend' Lara keep record 400 so SA can begin bowling out Zimbabwe
twice
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe (AP) --- Wiaan Mulder sacrificed a shot at one of cricket's
most hallowed records to start mopping up Zimbabwe in the second test at Queens
Sports Club on Monday.
The first-time captain of South Africa was on 367 --- just 33 runs shy of Brian
Lara's world record 400 not out set 21 years ago --- when he stopped his epic
innings and declared with South Africa on 626-5.
He then chipped in with two wickets in consecutive overs and a catch to help
dismiss Zimbabwe for 170, enforced the follow-on, and had Zimbabwe 51-1 in its
second innings by stumps.
Already 1-0 up in the short series, the World Test Championship winners were
405 runs ahead and gearing toward wrapping up another three-day win on Tuesday.
"First, I thought we have enough and we need to bowl," Mulder told broacaster
SuperSport. "Secondly, Brian Lara is a legend, he got 400 against England and
for someone of that stature to keep that record is pretty special. If I get the
chance again I'd probably do the same thing."
"I was speaking to Shuks (Proteas coach Shukri Conrad) and he kind of said to
me as well, ?Let the legends keep the really big scores.' You never know what
my fate is or what is destined for me. But Brian Lara keeping that record is
exactly the way it should be."
Lara, the former West Indies skipper, is one of cricket's legendary figures,
tallying almost 12,000 runs in test cricket at an average of 52.88 per innings,
including 24 centuries and 48 half-centuries from 1990 to 2006.
Within a couple of months in 1994, he set records for highest scores in test
cricket (375 against England) and first-class cricket (501 not out). After
losing the test record to Australia's Matthew Hayden, who scored 380 against
Zimbabwe in October 2003, Lara regained the record with an unbeaten 400 six
months later in 2004.
Mulder achieved the fifth-highest test score ever, and the highest by a South
African. Apart from Lara and Hayden, Sri Lankan Mahela Jayawardene's 374 is the
only other higher score in the test format.
To stay in the moment for the nearly seven hours he spent in the middle, Mulder
sang to himself, "Zombie" by The Cranberries, over and over.
"That was stuck in my head most of the game, and whenever I felt a little bit
out of it I just kept singing, sometimes louder, to make sure I'm present.
That's my method."
He started day two on 264 and the second new ball only eight overs old. But he
picked up where he left off on Sunday, plundering the Zimbabwe bowlers.
When he became the second South African to the 300 landmark, guiding Tanaka
Chivanga's yorker to fine leg for a single, he took off his helmet, smiled and
raised his bat to bathe in the applause.
"I never even dreamt of getting a double hundred never mind a triple hundred
but it's super special," Mulder said. "The most important thing is it put the
team in a good position to hopefully win this test."
His 297 balls to the milestone were the second fastest to 300 after India's
Virender Sehwag took 278 balls versus South Africa in 2008.
Amla passed
Mulder became the highest-scoring South African in tests when he eclipsed
Hashim Amla's 311 not out against England in 2012.
He raced from 300 to 350 in 27 balls, and gave his teammates a salute.
He went from 300 to 367 in 37 balls then hardly faced another ball. Kyle
Verreynne had the strike for most of the last four overs to lunch and was 42
not out.
Mulder's 334-ball knock included 49 boundaries and four sixes.
Zimbabwe's Williams stranded
After South Africa rested on its sixth highest total in history, and highest in
nine years, Zimbabwe's first bat lasted only 43 overs.
Off-spinner Prenelan Subrayen, making his test debut at age 31, took 4-42 to
leave Zimbabwe's Sean Williams stranded on 83.
Williams had been ill and didn't field in the morning. He didn't bat until
Zimbabwe was 56-5 and he zoomed to 50 in 32 balls, the fastest test 50 in the
team's history.
No. 11 batter Chivanga seemed to give Williams every chance to achieve
back-to-back centuries in the series, by lasting for more than six overs.
Williams, given a reprieve by a no-ball on 79, hit 83 off 55 balls.
Corbin Bosch got the only second-innings wicket, and Zimbabwe reached stumps
with Takudzwanashe Kaitano on 34 and Nick Welch on 6.
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