Mulder vs Lara: Ex-England captain apologises to SA's captain - 'Fair play...'

Former England captain Alastair Cook was one of the many who criticised Wiaan Mulder's promotion to No. 3 in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against South Africa. Mulder had scored 6 and 27 in the WTC final.The 27-year-old is currently leading South Africa in the absence of Temba Bavuma against Zimbabwe.

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Mulder is in the news for declaring South Africa's innings when he himself was batting on 367 in Bulawayo. His declaration came at lunch on the second day, when South Africa were 626/5. He was only 33 runs away from breaking Brian Lara's 400, the highest individual score in Test cricket.

"I would have gone to 385, become the second highest, and then declared.

Just one thing—I think when I was on that last Test match in the World Test Championship, I said he is not a number three (laughs). He is about to break the record. Fair play to him to say no," Cook said on the Stick To Cricket podcast.Former England captain Michael Vaughan too had echoed Cook's sentiment and said: "I'd reckon I would have got to 395."

South Africa won the Test by an innings and 236 runs to win the series 2-0."I think respecting the game is really important; letting someone like Lara keep his record," Mulder had said.

"He's one of the greatest to ever have played the game, so he deserves that. And yeah, I think we're still in a great position to win the game, and that's all that matters."Mulder was sad that he had knocked Amla and his 311 not out against England at The Oval in July 2012."I've worked with Hash [now the Lions' batting coach] over the last couple of years, and he's obviously a hall-of-famer," he said."So it's truly special to go past his record. But I always feel like a lot of the legends deserve certain accolades. I'm by no means close to a legend, so someone like Hash deserves to hold that record."