If I’d asked you a week ago, “Who is Pieter Willem Adriaan Mulder?” most of you would have probably blinked, shrugged, and muttered something about a potential new brand of Dutch cheese. The few avid cricket fans might have vaguely recalled a cricketer. But oh, how times have changed!
In the last few days, Wiaan Mulder, as he is referred to by his teammates and the wider media, shot to global fame, not for breaking a record, but for being the cricketer who didn’t break a record. And not just any record; Mulder had the opportunity to break the “Prince of Port-of-Spain” Brian Lara’s batting record for the highest individual score in International Test Cricket (400*) and gave up the opportunity.
Mulder is a 27-year-old South African Test cricketer who is an all-rounder and was playing in the second Test match between South Africa and Zimbabwe, and had Lara’s World Test record of 400 firmly in his grasp. In the first Test match, he was run out for 17 in the first innings and then scored 147 before the second Test match. Then came the triple-century parade: a mammoth 367 not out, just 33 runs shy of Lara’s ‘untouchable’ record. With South Africa dominating the Test match, scoring 626/5 and with three and a half days left, Mulder did the unthinkable, he declared! Declared! I mean, seriously, it’s as if he was brought a beastly cold Carib (having the record firmly in his grasp) and told the bartender to take it back and bring a hot one instead.
Mulder even recorded the second fastest 300 in Test cricket, coming off 297 deliveries, bettered only by Virender Sehwag’s 278-ball blitz against the Proteas in Chennai back in 2008. And get this: he was even bowled on 247, only to be saved by a no-ball from Tanaka Chivanga. It was truly his day, but he unbelievably decided to pack it in.
He is leading the Proteas in the second Test match as Keshav Maharaj, who led the team in the first Test, is out injured. Many of the regular South African Test cricketers, including skipper Temba Bavuma, opted out of the series against Zimbabwe, choosing instead to take a rest from Test cricket after the gruelling World Test Championship final vs Australia.
Before his monumental 367 not out and 147 vs Zimbabwe, Mulder’s Test career boasted a total of one century and two fifties. So, to score a triple century was nothing short of remarkable and surprised even Mulder himself. Before this mammoth innings, he had batted 33 times in 20 Test matches, scoring 786 with a top score of 147 at a rather modest average of 26.2 (again, thanks to the boost of the 147 in the previous Test). With the ball, in 302 overs, he has taken 35 wickets at an average of 25.6; not a bad return. Looking at these stats, Mulder is a decent all-rounder, but no way in the class of a top-drawer all-rounder to follow in the footsteps of his compatriot, Jacques Kallis.
He admitted he never dreamed of scoring a triple century, which is fair. But this is where the plot thickens. Why, in the name of all cricketing sanity, would he, as captain, declare? If I were captain, he’d still be out there, batting, aiming for 450, maybe 500. And if he didn’t like it, he could get himself out! Can you imagine the global fame and legendary status Wiaan (easier to pronounce than his full name) would have had all over the world? It would have been beyond belief!
But here’s his reasoning. In his own words in an interview, he said, “I thought we had enough and we need to bowl.” Did he realise this was before lunch on the second day of a five-day Test match? He went on, “Secondly, Brian Lara is a legend, let’s be real. He got 401 or whatever it was against England. For someone of that stature to keep that record is pretty special. I think if I get the chance again, I would do the same thing. I think Brian Lara keeping that record is exactly the way it should be.”
Well said, Wiaan, well said. And I’m not trying to rain on his parade, but trust me, as he said, only a special player like Brian Lara had that kind of opportunity. Honestly, his statement baffled me. By his logic, isn’t his countryman Hashim Amla also a legend for being the only other South African to score a triple century (311 against England)? Why did he go past the highest score by a South African? It takes me back to 1989 when Australian Mark Taylor was playing in a Test match vs Pakistan in Peshawar, was 334 not out overnight at the time, which was the highest individual score by an Australian held by Donald Bradman (later to be knighted) and he decided to share the record with the Don!
In the recent World Test Championship final against Australia, Mulder was batting at number three, so it seems he might keep that spot, even with the regulars back. Unfortunately for him, the Aussie bowling attack is a slight step up from Zimbabwe’s (as the West Indies can attest), and he only managed six and 27 in that game.
I’m left wondering if the pressure of those final 34 runs might have been a bit too much to handle. Counting them down, one by one, or four by four – that kind of pressure can make even the steeliest player crumble. I don’t know his mental game, so I’ll take his statement at face value and conclude that Wiaan Mulder is indeed a very special individual. I honestly don’t know of any human cricketer, living or deceased, who would have done what he did.
In speaking to a former cricketer earlier on the subject, he said to me, “You mad? I’m looking to go to 400 and plenty more until the captain declares, and worse yet, if I am captain, I’m looking at 500”. Chris Gayle, a former teammate of Lara, said Mulder “maybe panicked” and made an “error” by not chasing the “once in a lifetime opportunity”. Gayle said, “If I could get the chance to get 400, I would get 400. That doesn’t happen often. You don’t know when you’re going to get to a triple-century again. Any time you get a chance like that, you try and make the best out of it.”
I am sure if I ask a few more cricketers, I will get the same response.
Mulder may never get the opportunity again, but as the saying goes, to each his own. And as Brian once famously said, “Records are there to be broken.” So, I sincerely hope Brian Lara extends an all-expenses-paid, week-long vacation to beautiful Trinidad & Tobago for Wiaan Mulder and his family, perhaps for Carnival. The man deserves it, if only for keeping the “Prince of Port-of-Spain” and our beloved Trinidad & Tobago firmly etched in the annals of cricket history. Well played, Wiaan, well played.
Editor’s note:
The views expressed in the preceding article are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views of any organisation in which he is a stakeholder.
