3 reasons why Wiaan Mulder can be a mainstay in South Africa's Test setup
South Africa's Wiaan Mulder put up an exemplary performance in the second and final Test of the bilateral series against West Indies. He returned with figures of 4/32 & 2/35 with the ball and contributed 34 with the bat to help the Proteas secure a 40-run victory and also complete a 1-0 series win.
So far, Mulder has represented the country in 37 games (14 Tests, 15 ODIs and eight T20Is), picking up 42 wickets and scoring nearly 600 runs. However, his career hasn't taken off as he would have expected since making his international debut in 2017.
Let's take a look at why Wiaan Mulder is a prized asset for South Africa and can play a big role to keep the team's dominance alive in the longest format.
#1 Coming off an impressive pedigree in domestic cricket
Wiaan Mulder gave an indication of his talent by emerging as South Africa's finest bowler with 11 scalps in five games of U19 World Cup 2016. Later in the year, he won three awards from Cricket South Africa: U19 Cricketer of the Year, Schools T20 Cricketer of the Year and Khaya Majola Cricket Week Player of the Tournament.
Mulder made his domestic debut in a first-class fixture in October 2016 where he impressed by taking a total of seven wickets. Soon, he forayed into the other formats and made his ODI debut against Bangladesh in the following year.
Mulder has so far played 273 games in domestic cricket, scoring around 8,000 runs and picking up more than 330 wickets. In first-class cricket, the 26-year-old has 4,099 runs at a prolific average of 35.33 and scalped 191 wickets.
Hence, Mulder has returned with impressive performances in domestic cricket and is ready to be a mainstay of the South African Test team.
#2 Wiaan Mulder and Marco Jansen can bolster team's batting strength
If South Africa decide to play with both all-rounders, Wiaan Mulder and Marco Jansen, they will have a terrific batting strength in the lower middle-order. Mulder and Jansen can likely bat for the team at No. 7 and No. 8, respectively.
Jansen holds an average of 23.58 in 13 Test appearances, with a top knock of 84* against India in 2023. Meanwhile, Mulder has scored a double century in first-class cricket and can be a strong support to the team in the lower middle-order. Last year, he hit his highest score of 42 against West Indies, when the majority of the batters struggled to get going on a tough surface.
#3 Proved his mettle in county cricket
Wiaan Mulder's first stint in the County Championship came in 2019 for Kent, where he returned with 10 wickets and 114 runs in three games.
Then, he came back to the tournament in 2022 to feature for Leicestershire and ended as their second-highest run-scorer with 689 runs and also took 14 wickets in eight games.
Interestingly, he returned with his finest-ever first-class knock of 235* this season.
The 2023 season saw him picking up 26 wickets and accumulating over 300 runs in 10 appearances. Thus, the right-handed all-rounder has a terrific record in county cricket, which will hold him in good stead, when he next plays for South Africa.