*Official* South Africa Test Tour of Zimbabwe 2025

[Silver Silva]

He is the skipper.

The coach can tell him to declare once he gets a triple hundred for example

 

[TT Boy]

I can't see Mulder declaring. There are four days left of the Test, and Mulder may have missed Bradman's 300 in a day record, but there are a lot of records that he can still accomplish in the first session – highest score by a South African captain and highest score by a South African. Moreover, this South African bowling attack has taken 58 Test wickets; the captain has 60% of those. They should only want to be batting once here.

 

[TT Boy]

de Zorzi batting with the same toothpick Khawaja has. Have no idea who Senokwane is but fair play to get an international cap doing this:

 

[govinda indian fan]

Lara record in danger

 

[govinda indian fan]

We might get The Prince returning to our test squad soon then.

Lara

 

[Fuller Pilch]

I wonder if they'll bat on and give Mulder a chance for 400

 

[Dendarii]

He is the skipper.

The declaration usually isn't just up to the captain. Similarly to the decision regarding what to do after winning the toss, when to declare will have been decided by the leadership group, which is made up of the captain, coach, and senior players. We speak about it as though it's just the captain involved because that's convenient, and because he's the one who announces/indicates it.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Kane Williamson could break Lara's record when he faces this Zim attack soon ..

Williamson won't be touring. I expect Young will be at 3.

 

[Darwin Award]

Well it's the highest score by a Test Batsman on captaincy debut. A 56 year Test record broken

A fair few records broken by South Africans I've noticed in recent times.

eg highest score in ODI debut,first batsman to hit 150+ in ODI debut... youngest to hit 150+ in test debut etc etc.

 

[Darwin Award]

Only the 10th Test skipper to get 150+ on debut

Bill Murdoch (AUS) 153, vs England 1880
Clem Hill (AUS) 191 vs England 1910
Warwick Armstrong (AUS) 158 vs England 1920
Vijay Hazare (IND)164* vs England 1951
Graham Dowling (NZ) 239 vs India 1968
Clive Lloyd 163 (WI) vs India 1974
Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI)203* vs South Africa 2005
Alastair Cook (ENG) 173 vs Bangladesh 2010
Joe Root (ENG)190 vs South Africa 2017
Wiaan Mulder (SA) 161 and counting vs Zimbabwe 2025

Joe Root nearly with the 'double' of scoring a double century on his 100th test and also debut innings as a captain..

Nearly.

 

[Nintendo]

Last South African to make more than 1 hundred at 3 was Hashim Amla. It's been painful that change over. Hopefully this is the start of something fruitful.

Did stubbs not make 2 hundreds at #3 when he was batting there last year?

 

[Prince EWS]

Did stubbs not make 2 hundreds at #3 when he was batting there last year?

Nah one of them was at 4 in the second innings with Mulder moved up the order to 3.

 

[Kenneth Viljoen]

de Zorzi batting with the same toothpick Khawaja has. Have no idea who Senokwane is but fair play to get an international cap doing this:

View attachment 48423

Lesego Senokwane the last two years in domestic cricket:
13 matches, 1014 runs at an average of 46 with four centuries.

Lesego Senokwane for SA A or SA Emerging - 385 runs at an average of 77.

Combined red-ball statistics for the last two years:
1399 runs at an average of 51.81.

His overall stats are a bit misleading cause he did start out as a bowler who could bat , I don't mind his selection just think Hermann is better , also the stats you pulled up 7 of those are List A games which aren't relevant to test cricket .

And the squad was picked before the A series vs WI I think, Senokwane was in form in the first half of the domestic season and I think that caught the attention of the selectors .

 

[CricAddict]

Mulder can bat the whole day tomorrow if they can't get him out. Srilanka's highest test score record will be under threat.

 

[Dendarii]

If Zimbabwe can't pick up wickets then South Africa may have a decision to make. If things start heading towards breaking the big records then should they go for it? Obviously, they still want to win the match, but opportunities to break those records are extremely rare. I think what helps is their scoring rate as if they can keep that up then there would still be plenty of time in the match.

 

[Kenneth Viljoen]

If Zimbabwe can't pick up wickets then South Africa may have a decision to make. If things start heading towards breaking the big records then should they go for it? Obviously, they still want to win the match, but opportunities to breaking those records are extremely rare. I think what helps is their scoring rate as if they can keep that up then there would still be plenty of time in the match.

Yeah I think they should go for it, got to look at the bigger picture, what is more likely to attract World Headlines ?

Test Cricket needs all the publicity it can get , what better way to get the publicity attention then going for a once in a life time record?

 

[Stefan9]

Wiaan passes Smith to get highest score as a SA captain.

 

[Thala_0710]

Also the second highest ever score by a SA batsman

 

[Kenneth Viljoen]

Wiaan passes Smith to get highest score as a SA captain.

He also passed Bradman's highest test score as a captain

 

[SeamUp]

100% go for records. We have plenty time plus as a team that's growing it is good for the psychological side. Shows the hunger because let's be honest we need to be breaking records against this level of quality and we are. So boxes being ticked.