Four years ago, at the tender age of 22, Proteas all-rounder Wiaan Mulder‘s cricket career was in jeopardy because of a back and hip injuries.
There was a real possibility that the all-rounder wouldn’t be able to bowl again, which left him in a tough place. But having made a few tweaks to his bowling action and working hard to understand his body, the 26-year-old Mulder is now starting to fulfil the potential that saw him making his international debut as at the age of 19.
After a patchy start to his Test career, Mulder is now blossoming into quite the player, putting in the type of displays that red-ball coach Shukri Conrad would have been hoping for after backing Mulder as his No 1 all-rounder.
On Tuesday, on the second day of the second Test against Bangladesh in Chattogram, Mulder stroked his maiden Test century to help put the Proteas in a commanding position before bad light brought a premature end of the day’s play.
Mulder became the third centurion in South Africa’s first innings, following Tristan Stubbs’ 106 and Tony d Zorzi’s magnificent 177. It was the first time since 2017 that the Proteas had three centurions in a single innings.
Mulder went to his century after the Proteas decided to continue to bat after the tea break. Mulder was almost run out with his score on 99, taking a sharp single to mid-on off the last ball of the over. However, he went to his 100 in style when he hit Taijul Islam over his head for six.
Mulder ended not out on 105 after sharing an unbeaten 152-run stand with fellow all-rounder Senuran Muthusamy (68 not out), who brought up his maiden half-century.
Mulder has had a fine series thus far, having also scored 54 runs with the bat and producing figures of 3/22 and 1/40 with the ball in the first Test.
Earlier on day two, De Zorzi continued where he left off on the first day, hitting the Bangladesh bowlers to all parts.
De Zorzi and David Bedingham shared a 116-run stand for the third wicket, before Bedingham departed after an aggressive 59 off 78 balls
De Zorzi added another 33 runs to his overnight score before Taijul, who took his second five-wicket haul of the series, trapped him LBW.
It was a grand knock, as the Western Province left-hander pushed through cramp and dehydration on the first day to lay the platform for the Proteas’ mammoth score of 575/6 declared.
The Proteas then struck in the very first over of the Bangladesh innings when Kagiso Rabada had opener Shadman Islam caught down the leg-side.
Bangladesh’s other opener Zakir Hasan followed soon afterwards, also nicking behind. Zakir oddly reviewed the decision, but the third umpire quickly confirmed the edge.
Dane Paterson, playing for the first time in the series, then had Mahmudul Hasan Joy caught behind chasing a full ball, before left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj bowled nightwatchman Hasan Mahmud with a beautiful delivery that spun from leg to off.
When bad light was called Bangladesh were reeling at 38/4, still 537 behind the Proteas’ first innings total.
@JohnGoliath82