Mulder suffered the injury on the first ball of the 27th over, the fifth ball he faced. Lahiru Kumara came back at Mulder and his fingers are seen jammed into the handle of the bat as he defended. He made 10 minutes, and faced two more balls before being retired. He bowled the first one, a yorker, outside off and left the last ball of that one before deciding he would not continue. He came out to bat when South Africa lost the ninth wicket – that of Temba Bavuma – and faced five more balls to finish on 9. This included a dance down the track to hit Dhananjaya de Silva for six.
Mulder was taken for an X-ray at the lunch break and this confirmed the fracture. Ryan Rickelton was fielding as a substitute in his place. Mulder’s absence means South Africa’s plans for a four-seam, spinner attack have been affected. In Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jensen and Gerald Coetzee, they have three seamers with Keshav Maharaj as the only specialist spinner. Aiden Markram is available to bowl offspin if required.
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