DAY 2: Proteas hammer home advantage after Mulder record at tea

The Proteas absolutely hammered home their advantage by reducing Zimbabwe to 88/6 in their first innings at tea on day two, chasing the visitors mammoth 626/5 declared batting first, in the second test at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo on Monday.'

Captain for the match Wiaan Mulder continued to be the star of the show, picking up two wickets to go with his recording breaking unbeaten 367 that powered his team to their huge total at lunch earlier in the day.

Mulder and Codi Yusuf, both 2/20, Senuran Muthusamy, 1/15, and Corbin Bosch, 1/27, have been the wicket takers so far and have put the visitors well on top and on their way to what could become a monstrous innings win if things continue as they have been.

At lunch the Proteas surprisingly declared their first innings, with Mulder in touch of Brian Lara’s test record score of 400 not out that he set against England back in 2004.

Zimbabwe’s first innings then got off to a disastrous start as the first ball from Yusuf superbly faded away from opener Takudzwanashe Kaitano, as he feathered an edge to keeper Kyle Verreynne, to fall for a golden duck.

In the next over Bosch bowled a similar delivery, this one catching the edge of opener Dion Meyers (1) bat, through to Verreynne and the hosts were in early strife on 4/2.

It didn’t get any better for the home side as Nick Welch (10), inside edged onto his own pad to be caught by sub fielder Zubayr Hamza off Yusuf, before Mulder got in on the action, having Craig Ervine (17) caught by Yusuf at backward point, and had Wesley Madhevere (25) chopping on, as Zimbabwe crashed to 56/5.

In the penultimate over to tea Senuran Muthusamy, on his return to the test side after nine months, removed Tafadzwa Tsiga (12) as he tried to pull a short ball but ended up top edging to Dewald Brevis at short cover, as they fell to 82/6.

The Proteas will now look to bowl out the hosts and probably enforce the follow on in the days final session as they chase a dominant win.

In the morning session Mulder continued to break a slew of records as he became just the second South African to score a test triple century.

Other records Mulder passed, included him becoming South Africa’s record individual run scorer in a test, passing Hashim Amla’s unbeaten 311 against England in 2012, while he now holds the fifth highest score in test match history.

Only Lara, twice (400 and 375), Matthew Hayden (380) and Mahela Jayawardena (374) scored more in a test, making the declaration decision all the more perplexing as Mulder had plenty of time to have a go at passing them all.

Earlier he had become the 29th player to score a test triple century, and 33rd score of over 300 in total, with Lara, Don Bradman, Chris Gayle and Virender Sehwag having all scored two.

In the game it was another fantastic session for the Proteas, as they scored 161 runs in 26 overs at a run rate of over six runs to the over, while losing just one wicket.

The visitors resumed play in the morning on 465/4, with Mulder and Brevis (30) swiftly taking them past 500.

Brevis then became the only wicket of the session, throwing his hands at a widish delivery from Kundai Matigimu, only to end up feathering an edge to keeper Clive Madande with the score 513/5.

That brought Verreynne (42no) in and along with Mulder they powered on with an unbeaten 113 run stand to take them confidently to lunch.

But along the way Mulder continued to bring up milestones, first becoming South Africa’s second triple centurion and first as captain, in the 100th over of the match, flicking a single to fine leg off Tanaka Chivanga to get there off 297 balls.

He then proceeded to dominate the rest of play, slamming boundaries almost at will as he cruised past Amla’s record and over 350 and into the lunch break with his team well on top.

ZIMBABWE: Tanaka Chivanga, Craig Ervine, Takudzwanashe Kaitano, Wessly Madhevere, Wellington Masakadza, Kundai Matigimu, Blessing Muzarabani, Dion Myers, Tafadzwa Tsiga, Nicolas Welch, Sean Williams.

SOUTH AFRICA: Lesego Senokwane, Tony de Zorzi, Wiaan Mulder, David Bedingham, Dewald Brevis, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Kyle Verreynne, Senuran Muthusamy, Corbin Bosch, Codi Yusuf, Prenelan Subrayen