No more 'Wiaan Mulder who' as SA captain refuses to chase Lara’s 400

Wiaan Mulder, who? The question will be a thing of the past as the South African batter, the team's stand-in captain for the two-Test series against Zimbabwe, became a major talking point in the cricketing fraternity this evening when he stopped short of chasing Brian Lara’s magic figure of 400 — the highest-ever individual score in Test cricket.

Batting on a marathon 367, the fourth-highest individual score in an innings, Mulder declared with the Proteas on 626/5 at Bulawayo, ostensibly to give his team a better chance of winning. It left many questioning the decision, not to speak of sparking a meme-fest, as it was South Africa's first innings with plenty of time left to put pressure on a modest Zimbabwean batting line-up and the visitors already 1-0 up in the series.

Breaking his silence on the declaration, Mulder said at stumps: "First things first, I thought we got enough and we need to bowl. And secondly, Brian Lara is a legend, let's be real. He got 401 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 speaking to the head coach Shukri Conrad, he kind of said to me as well, like, listen, let the legends keep the really big scores," he said, before adding: "And 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."

Lara, then in his prime, played an unbeaten knock of 400 off 582 balls against England in 2004 at the St John’s Stadium in Antigua — a record which one thought would be beyond any batter.

However, Mulder — a relative newcomer who is leading the squad because Temba Bavuma injured himself during the World Test Championship (WTC) final last month — now holds the record for highest individual score by a South African batter as he went past Hashim Amla’s previous best of 311 against England in 2012. Keshav Maharaj, another senior player, was ruled out while Cricket South Africa (CSA) had rested the likes of Kagiso Rabada and Aiden Markram. 

The 27-year-old also smashed the second-fastest triple century in a Test match after he brought up the feat off 297 balls — Virender Sehwag having scored the fastest when he slammed a triple hundred off 278 balls against South Africa in Chennai. 

Mulder’s innings was studded with 49 fours and four sixes, and came on the back of another century in the first Test when he rustled up 147 in the second innings. A surfeit of records fell by the wayside as Mulder now holds the record for the highest individual score by a batter in an away Test. Pakistan’s Hanif Mohammed’s knock of 337 against the West Indies in 1958 is the second-best. 

He also has the highest aggregate by a South African batter in a Test, surpassing Graeme Smith’s 362 (277 and 85) against England at Edgbaston in 2003.

Highest individual score in Tests

400* – Brian Lara (West Indies) vs England, 2004

380 - Matthew Hayden (Australia) vs Zimbabwe, 2003

375 – Brian Lara (West Indies) vs England, 1994

374 – Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka) vs South Africa, 2006

367*- Wiaan Mulder (South Africa) vs Zimbabwe, 2025

365* – Garfield Sobers (West Indies) vs Pakistan, 1958

364 – Len Hutton (England) vs Australia, 1938

340 - Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka) vs India, 1997

334 - Don Bradman (Australia) vs England), 1930

334 - Mark Taylor (Australia) vs Pakistan, 1998