Mulder suffered the injury on the first ball of the 27th over, which was the fifth ball he faced. Lahiru Kumara got one to bite Mulder and his fingers appeared to get stuck in the handle of the bat as he defended. He received treatment on the field in what became a 10-minute finale and faced two more balls before retiring injured. He kept out the first one, a yorker, and finished off the last ball before deciding not to continue. He came out to bat when South Africa lost the ninth wicket, of Temba Bavuma, and faced five more balls to finish on 9, not out. That included a dance down the track to hit Dhananjaya de Silva for six.
Mulder had an x-ray during the lunch break and it confirmed the fracture. Ryan Rickelton was the substitute who took his place. Mulder’s absence means South Africa’s plans for a four-seamer and spinner attack have been affected. Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen and Gerald Coetzee have three seamers and Keshav Maharaj is the only specialist spinner. Aiden Markram is available to bowl if required.
Although it is not confirmed, it is more than likely that the injury will rule Mulder out of the next test, which begins next Thursday in Gqeberha. South Africa have only named a 14-man squad and could consider bowling all-rounder Senuran Muthusamy at their new stadium at St George’s Park, or seamer Dane Paterson. Rickelton is the team’s backup hitter.
