The new benchmark
What does Aubrey Faulkner and Wiaan Mulder have in common?
Wiaan Mulder pulled out of his delivery just before he went into his gather. He might have taken off on the wrong foot, felt that his rhythm was not right, or maybe his grip was off. It could be any or none of the above. Whatever it was, it made his stop and turn back to his mark.
After the false start, Mulder was unstoppable. His deliveries were so tightly grouped that he was landing them in the proverbial shoebox. He landed the ball on the line just outside off-stump and got enough swing into the batter.
Mulder’s first over, a maiden, was around the wicket to Ben Compton. He faced the left-hander again in the second over, but decided to go over the wicket. As he did in first six deliveries, Mulder gave the Tuskers’ opener a real working over. He took Compton out of his misery with the 10th delivery he bowled.
The Wanderers’ surface is a seductress. Inexperienced bowlers are tempted into trying short, aggressive lengths. Mulder resisted the temptation and kept hammering on the shoebox, back-of-a-length and around third and fourth stump. His in-swingers caused problems for Sean Gilson, but that wasn’t the one the dismissed the Tuskers captain.
Mulder delivered one that angled away from the left-hander and kissed the outside edge on its way to Connor Esterhuizen behind the stumps. Mulder now had two wickets and was still yet to concede a run. The next batter in was Matthew Urquhart.
Mulder alternated between attacking Urquhart’s off stump and drilling the balls in the channel just outside off stump, testing the right-hander’s awareness of where his stumps were. The Tuskers middle order batter responded with a serviceable defence. Urquhart, who edged two runs off Mulder in the all-rounder’s fourth over, was the first batter to achieve the feat.
Ntando Zuma was Mulder’s third victim. He dislodged the middle order batter with a delivery just shaped away at the last moment and took the edge off Zuma’s bat. Zubayr Hamza completed the catch at second slip.
Sean Whitehead did what no other Tuskers batter did, he took four runs off Mulder. He did so by way of running two twos. The all-rounder got his revenge in the sixth over. He landed the fourth delivery of the over on the fourth stump line, got an edge off Whitehead, and Hamza completed the catch to make it four wickets for Mulder.
Urquhart, who watched Mulder’s handiwork from up close got tired of waiting for a Mulder delivery with his name on it. He tried to flick a Mulder delivery over the fine leg boundary. It was the wrong line and length to do that. It didn’t carry to the ropes. Nqaba Peter completed a forward diving catch to dismiss the right-hander.
Renaldo Meyer was next. The tailender had no idea how to play Mulder and lasted only three deliveries. He chopped on to bring Ziyaad Abrahams to the crease. Mulder ended the match in style; he fired in one that beat Ziyaad Abrahams’ outside edge and castled the off-stump.
Mulder finished the innings with seven wickets for six runs in 6.5 overs. It was one of the best displays of bowling at the Wanderers, and it earned him his first five-wicket haul at the venue.
Aubrey Faulkner made his professional debut at 22. By then, he had served in the Imperial Light Horse, an old South African regiment, in Johannesburg as an officer during the Second Boer War. After the war, Faulkner moved to Cape Town, where he found employment with a gold-mining company, H Ekstein & Co, as a clerk.
The sedate existence of an office worker who went to the pub after work wasn’t for him. So, he made time to go to Newlands everyday to hit a few balls and roll his arm in the nets. His open batting stance raised eyebrows; most batters of his era preferred a side-on stance. His run-up with the ball was not a pretty sight; it included several stutters and madly pumping elbows.
Walter Richards, a retired player and then-umpire, saw his potential. Faulkner was a sponge and absorbed everything Richards taught him. Western Province didn’t see what Richards saw in the young man, so they didn’t play him. Transvaal took a chance and gave him his debut in April 1903. It was an inspired decision.
Faulkner went on to be one of the best all-rounders South Africa has ever produced. In March 1909, he visited his old stomping grounds, Newlands and left with a South African record: he became the first South African player to take 10 wickets and score 100 runs or more in the same match.
He finished the match with 10/166 and 110 runs across two innings. It’s a feat no Western Province player has equalled or bettered. Les Brown, Shaun von Berg and a few other players have since achieved the feat.
However, at Transvaal/Gauteng Lions, Faulkner’s record stood for 67 years. Clive Rice broke the record when he took 11/112 and scored 101 runs across two innings against Western Province at the Wanderers in 1976.
Unlike Faulkner, Wiaan Mulder was the chosen one. The Lions selected him so early that he famously shed his school uniform to wear his Lions training kit as a 16-year-old and made his debut at 17. Their paths couldn’t be more different. That said, there are similarities between him and Faulkner.
Like Faulkner, Mulder is coachable. And also like Faulkner, Mulder was in his 28th year when he set a record for the Lions. Against the Tuskers, he took more wickets and scored more runs than Rice to set a new record. Most importantly, he didn’t need two innings for his 111-ball 115.
The all-rounder, who found the Lions on 245/3 just before stumps on day one, guided the hosts to the close of play with a watchful four runs from 15 balls. The next morning, he added a brisk 44 off 42 balls to swell his tally to 48 from 57 balls.
Ziyaad Abrahams sent down a delivery that angled down the legside. Mulder tried to guide the ball past fine leg, but was late on the shot. Unimpressed with himself, Mulder took a stroll towards square leg.
In 1921, Faulkner played an innings for the ages against Australia. He scored a superb 153 that resurrected a hopeless innings. During his knock, Faulkner often took a walk to square leg talking himself through what he did wrong. The Australians found it humorous; Faulkner found it enlightening. He was self-coaching.
Like Faulkner, Mulder’s stroll was for a moment of self-coaching. He was more centred and in control when he faced the next ball. Mulder didn’t take long to reach 50 runs. He hammered the ball through the covers for a four off the 63rd ball of his innings.
Thirty-seven balls after the half-century, Mulder drilled the ball back past Renaldo Meyer to bring up his hundred. His innings ended nine balls after his century. Seven wickets and a century in a single match is a feat in itself, but Mulder was not done yet.
He added a second five-wicket haul to his exploits: five wickets for 39 runs. That brought his match numbers to 115 runs and 12 wickets for 45 runs. He didn’t just outdo Faulkner and Rice in terms of numbers, he did it in a more spectacular fashion. This is the new benchmark for the Lions’ all-rounders to beat.