Wiaan Mulder was 34 runs away from creating a world record in Test cricket before he declared the innings at lunch.

After declaring on himself with 33 runs remaining to tie the highest individual Test score, Mulder said Lara deserves to keep the milestone.

South Africa stand-in captain Wiaan Mulder felt he had no right to dislodge West Indies great Brian Lara from the summit of highest test innings scores and decided to declare his team's innings against Zimbabwe when he was 34 runs short of breaking the record.