South Africa's Wiaan Mulder scored a century against Zimbabwe in his first match as Test captain on Sunday (July 6).
Wiaan Mulder scores century in first Test as South Africa captain
Mulder was named South Africa captain for the second Test against Zimbabwe after spinner Keshav Maharaj, himself a stand-in for Temba Bavuma, pulled up with injury following the first Test. It made him the Proteas' sixth captain in their last 14 Tests, going back to the start of 2024.
Read more: South Africa quick scores maiden professional ton in second Test to continue feast or famine start
He walked to the batting crease at 11-1 on the first morning, after the departure of Tony de Zorzi for 10. Debutant Lesego Senokwane was dismissed soon after for three, leaving the visitors 24-2. David Bedingham then joined Mulder, and the pair scored rapidly.
Mulder got himself to a half-century before lunch, off 53 balls as he cut Wellington Masakadza behind square. Resuming after lunch on 60, Mulder then made his way to a third Test century, and second in a row, off 116 balls.
2nd Test, Zimbabwe vs South Africa
vs
- Ball by ball Over
Getting to the three-figure mark made Mulder the third South African man to score a century in their first match as skipper, and the first since Jackie McGlew made 104* at Manchester in 1955. Overall, he is the 34th man to achieve this feat, Shubman Gill in Leeds last month the previous player to do so.
One South African woman has scored a century in her first Test as skipper; Mignon du Preez scored 102 against India at Mysore in 2014, but did not captain her country in Tests again.
Men's Test batters to score a century on captaincy debut, full list
| Player | Scores | Team | Opposition | Venue | Year |
| Billy Murdoch | 0 & 153* | Australia | England | The Oval | 1880 |
| Harry Trott | 0 & 143 | Australia | England | Lord's | 1896 |
| Archie MacLaren | 109 & 50* | England | Australia | Sydney | 1897 |
| Monty Noble | 133 & 22 | Australia | England | Sydney | 1903 |
| Clem Hill | 191 | Australia | South Africa | Sydney | 1910 |
| Herbie Taylor | 109 & 8 | South Africa | England | Durban | 1913 |
| Warwick Armstrong | 12 & 158 | Australia | England | Sydney | 1920 |
| Lindsay Hassett | 112 | Australia | South Africa | Johannesburg | 1949 |
| Vijay Hazare | 164* | India | England | Delhi | 1951 |
| Jeffrey Stollmeyer | 10 & 104 | West Indies | Australia | Sydney | 1952 |
| Geoff Rabone | 107 & 68 | New Zealand | South Africa | Durban | 1953 |
| Jackie McGlew | 104* & 48 | South Africa | England | Manchester | 1955 |
| Graham Dowling | 239 & 5 | New Zealand | India | Christchurch | 1968 |
| Bevan Congdon | 126 | New Zealand | West Indies | Bridgetown | 1972 |
| Clive Lloyd | 30 & 163 | West Indies | India | Bengaluru | 1974 |
| Greg Chappell | 123 & 109* | Australia | West Indies | Brisbane | 1975 |
| Sunil Gavaskar | 116 & 35* | India | New Zealand | Auckland | 1976 |
| Graham Yallop | 7 & 102 | Australia | England | Brisbane | 1978 |
| Jeff Crowe | 120* | New Zealand | Sri Lanka | Colombo (CCC) | 1987 |
| Dilip Vengsarkar | 10 & 102 | India | West Indies | Delhi | 1987 |
| Allan Lamb | 119 & 10 | England | West Indies | Bridgetown | 1990 |
| David Houghton | 121 & 41* | Zimbabwe | India | Harare | 1992 |
| Shivnarine Chanderpaul | 203* | West Indies | South Africa | Georgetown | 2005 |
| Andrew Strauss | 30 & 128 | England | Pakistan | Lord's | 2006 |
| Kevin Pietersen | 100 & 13 | England | South Africa | The Oval | 2008 |
| Alastair Cook | 173 & 39 | England | Bangladesh | Chattogram | 2010 |
| Brendan Taylor | 71 & 105* | Zimbabwe | Bangladesh | Harare | 2011 |
| Virat Kohli | 115 & 141 | India | Australia | Adelaide | 2014 |
| Steve Smith | 133 & 28 | Australia | India | Brisbane | 2014 |
| Joe Root | 190 & 5 | England | South Africa | Lord's | 2017 |
| Craig Ervine | 107 & 43 | Zimbabwe | Bangladesh | Mirpur | 2020 |
| Najmul Hossain Shanto | 37 & 105 | Bangladesh | New Zealand | Sylhet | 2023 |
| Shubman Gill | 147 & 8 | India | England | Leeds | 2025 |
| Wiaan Mulder | 264* (batting) | South Africa | Zimbabwe | Bulawayo | 2025 |
Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.
