Morne Morkel

Morne Morkel is a cricketer who plays Test and limited overs cricket for South Africa. He is a right-arm fast bowler with “genuine pace” according to former South African fast bowler Allan Donald and a useful lower order left handed batsman. He may as yet only have one first class fifty to his name, but some believe he has the ability to become a genuine bowling all rounder.

He made his ODI debut playing for an Africa XI side again their Asian counterparts and took 3 wickets. In the following game he opened the bowling with his brother Albie and this was the first time in ODI history that two brothers have done so.

Morkel was then selected in the South African squad for the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa, and went on to become one of the stars of the tournament, despite many feeling Twenty20 was a format with little scope for bowlers. Morkel bowled with consistent pace and accuracy, finishing with 9 wickets at 13.33 and an economy rate of 6.00, considered excellent in this form of the game. This haul included a matchwinning spell of 4/17 against New Zealand, all wickets being caught behind or bowled, and he was denied his 5th wicket in his final over only due to an incorrect no-ball call when he had clean bowled the batsman. This would have been the first 5 wicket hall ever taken in international Twenty20 cricket. The host nation may have gone on to be eliminated from the tournament, but Morkel’s bowling, along with the big hitting of his brother Albie, was unquestionably one of their biggest positives to emerge from the event.

Morkel was subsequently selected for the tour of Pakistan, but unfortunately suffered a broken bone in his foot in the warm up match preceding the first test. Further opportunities are sure to lie ahead.

Morkel has played in England for Kent and began the 2008 season deputising for Rana Naved at Yorkshire. Rumours that he had been part of the 2nd round of auctioning for the Indian Premier League, and signed a $60,000 contract with Rajasthan Royals, initially put Morkel’s move to Yorkshire into doubt. However, Yorkshire were assured that he had not signed a contract to play in the IPL.

Personal information
Full name Morné Morkel
Born 6 October 1984 (1984-10-06)
Vereeniging, Gauteng, South Africa
Height 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Batting style Left-hand
Bowling style Right-arm fast
Role Bowler
International information
National side South Africa
Test debut 26 December 2006 v India

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This entry was posted on Friday, January 23rd, 2009 at 7:37 am and is filed under South African Players. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.