On day two of the second Test against Zimbabwe, South Africa declared their first innings with captain Wiaan Mulder unbeaten on 367.
Mulder, who scored a century in the first Test of the series, was named stand-in captain for Keshav Maharaj after the left-arm spinner was ruled out with a groin injury. Mulder became the third South African batter in 70 years to score a century in his first Test as skipper.
He dominated the first day, finishing unbeaten on 264 off 259 balls, the most runs by a South African batter in a single day of Test cricket and the sixth-highest on the all-time list.
On day two, Mulder picked up where he left off, reaching his triple century off 297 balls to become the second-fastest triple-centurion in Test history. His knock fell just short of Virender Sehwag’s 278-ball record against South Africa in Chennai (2008). Mulder also made history as the first batter to score a triple century on his Test captaincy debut.
At lunch, Mulder remained unbeaten on 367 off 334 balls, with Brian Lara’s record 400 not out in sight. However, South Africa didn’t continue further, declaring at 626-5.
That left Mulder’s score as the fifth-highest in Test history, trailing Lara (400 vs England, 2004), Matthew Hayden (380 vs Zimbabwe, 2003), Lara (375 vs England, 1994), and Mahela Jayawardene (374 vs South Africa, 2006).
