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Mulder declares short of Lara's record as South Africa dominate Zimbabwe

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Wiaan Mulder scored the fifth-highest score in Test cricket before declaring as South Africa moved closer to victory against Zimbabwe in the second Test.

Mulder put on an unbeaten 367 before South Africa declared on 626-5, seeing him fall 23 runs short of the great Brian Lara's all-time record.

South Africa then bowled Zimbabwe out in their first innings for 170.

The tourists enforced a follow-on with Zimbabwe ending day two on 51-1, trailing by 405 runs.

Stand-in captain Mulder started play on 264 not out and carried on where he left off on day one.

He hit 49 fours and six maximums on his way to a huge total, scoring at a strike rate of 109.88.

Kyle Verreyne (42 not out) finished the morning session alongside Mulder before the South African bowlers showed their quality.

Codi Yusuf (2-20) removed Takudzwanashe Kaitano with the first ball of Zimbabwe’s innings before Corbin Bosch (1-27) and Mulder (2-20) send the rest of the top order back to the dressing room.

Prenelan Subrayen (4-42) took care of the tail end to give South Africa a lead of 456 at the halfway point, before Bosch also bowled Dion Myers out in the hosts’ second innings.

Data Debrief: History for selfless Mulder

Despite having a great opportunity to surpass Lara's record of 400 not out in a single Test innings, Mulder settled for the number five spot on the list.

Matthew Hayden (380), Lara again (375), and Mahela Jayawardene (374) were all in touching distance for the Mulder, who still walks away with the highest score away from home.

Indeed, the all-rounder still made plenty of history. He surpassed Hashim Amla’s 311 not out against England for the highest score by a South African player, and therefore the highest by a Proteas captain too.

Mulder reached the triple century mark in 297 balls, the second-fastest after Virender Sehwag got to his 300 in 278 balls in 2008. His 53 boundaries are also the second-most in an innings, after John Endrich’s 57 (52 fours and five sixes) in 1965.