FEATURE: POSITIVE INTENT SEES DSG'S MULDER FULFIL 'KALLIS PROPHECY'

Long before Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Dewald Brevis - the current rock stars of South African cricket - there was Wiaan Mulder. 

Mulder has been the anointed golden child since he was about 12. There was something about him that was so obvious that playing international cricket was not so much an ambition as a prerogative.

Geoffrey Toyana, the Lions coach at the time, acknowledged this potential by plucking the “generational talent” from the St Stithians Boys' College school benches.

The legend only grew when Mulder pitched up at the Wanderers for his franchise debut still wearing his school uniform.

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Equally, former Proteas coach Ottis Gibson was transfixed with “the next Jacques Kallis”, with Mulder uninhibitedly moving up the ranks to an ODI debut at 19 followed by a Test bow just two years later. 

The expectation weighed heavily on Mulder’s slight shoulders though with the output not matching the potential in the formative years.

The frustration was starting to tell for both Mulder and various national coaches who could not unlock the obvious talent. 

"The word that's kind of been so hard for me over the years is potential and hearing that: 'you potentially could fill so many gaps, your potential is you can play all formats for the country,'" Mulder admitted a little while ago.

"Those are all nice things, but how I was going to get there has always been so frustrating for me."

This cry for help was fortunately heard by long-time admirer and incoming Proteas coach Shukri Conrad, who immediately set about building Mulder’s confidence by running with the Durban’s Super Giants star for five consecutive Tests.

It coincided with Mulder’s maiden Test century in Bangladesh batting at No 7.

Conrad, though, had a further ace up his sleeve - which was partially triggered by a Mulder injury - as he was now looking for Mulder to finally fulfill the Kallis prophecy by promoting him to the flagship No 3 position.

Despite wide-ranging scepticism, Mulder showed that a little trust in a player can go a long way as Mulder repaid the faith by stroking a career-best 147 in the first Test against Zimbabwe at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo on Monday. He also claimed 4/50 with the ball for good measure in Zimbabwe’s first innings.

"It's been my dream as a kid, still my dream consistently to play for South Africa. For me, it's the pinnacle and that's what I'll try and do as long as I can and if that means batting at number three, then I'm going to do my best to stay in the team and batting at three," Mulder said.

The success has not been achieved by chance though. Mulder has shown a great level of consistency in the Betway SA20 over the past two seasons for DSG and has transferred this form to the Test arena through hard graft behind the scenes.

MULDER'S SA20 STATS

Matches: 32 | Runs: 603 | Highest score: 59 | Wickets: 9 | Best bowling: 2/17

"I think technically I've worked really hard to get my game in a place to be able to manage with the new ball, to be able to look after and score runs during the new ball phase of every innings," Mulder said.

"I think I learned a lot playing in the WTC Final about batting at three. That was only the second time I batted at three in Test cricket without a broken hand. So the way I want to go about it is to be positive and have good intent from ball one. 

"I think the first innings in the WTC taught me that the positions I need to get into to be able to transfer the pressure is more important than just surviving. I think the important thing about it is that we look to score all the time and that's a mindset that when I play that way, I play at my best."