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On February 26, South African fast bowler Morne Morkel announced that he will retire from international cricket after the four-Test series against Australia.
The 33-year-old quick has been a stalwart of the South African pace attack since the 2007/08 South African summer. He gets extreme bounce with his height, bowls at a quick pace and has had a stellar international career ever since stepping onto the field for the Proteas.
Morkel had a tough start to his first-class career as a 19-year-old for Easterns in the 2003/04 summer as he took eight wickets at 48.88. The restructuring of the South African domestic competition took place for the 2004/05 summer which saw the provinces take part in essentially a second-tier first-class competition as franchises were brought in representing two or more provinces each.
In that summer Morkel gained selection in one game for the Titans and took 5 for 136 for the match including a first innings five-wicket haul. His debut for the Titans came after taking 6 for 105 for Easterns, also including a five-wicket haul and taking 6 for 66 in the second innings against the Zimbabweans for an Easterns and Northerns combined XI.
Morkel continued to struggle to cement a place in the Titans side as he only played for the first-class side twice in that summer but showed strong performances in the one-day cup taking nine wickets at 22.78.
This helped him establish a spot in the 2006/07 side and took ten wickets at 25.6 in the first two games of the season including a man of the match performance (4/76 and 2/58) against the Eagles. This helped him gain selection in the Rest of South Africa XI that played a tour game against India in which he took a first-innings 4 for 78 and dismissed Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni.
The selectors were obviously impressed as Morkel, with limited first-class experience, was selected for the second Test of the series by replacing an injured Dale Steyn. Morkel toiled away in the first innings taking 3 for 86 from 18 overs and 0 for 25 from six in the second innings as South Africa went on to level the series.
He was, however, dropped for the third Test as Steyn returned from injury. Morkel finished the season positively he took 11 first-class wickets at an average of 29.36 in his remaining four games of the season.
Not only did he perform well in the first-class arena, but he also starred for the Titans in the one-day cup as he took 11 wickets at 19.46 and going for only 3.6 runs an over. This gained Morne selection in the African XI side for a One-Day International series against an Asia XI which saw him take eight wickets at 20.75.
(AP Photo/Mark Baker)
He then made his ODI debut for South Africa at the start of the 2007/08 summer against Zimbabwe and took 1 for 33 of 10 overs. The quick gained selection for the 2007 World Twenty20 and starred as he took 9 wickets at 13.33 and going for 6 runs an over.
This included a 4/17 against New Zealand which included dismissing top order batsmen Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor.
The next two and a half years passed as Morne had secured a spot in the South African side in all three formats and had 61 wickets in his first 19 Tests averaging 34.49, 34 wickets at 29.20 in 23 ODIs and 13 wickets at 16.30 in 9 T20Is and going for only 6.26 runs an over.
2010 was Morkel’s breakout year as he took 49 wickets at 24.06 in 11 Tests, including 3 five-wicket hauls which included averaging under 20 with the ball in series against England and West Indies.
In 10 ODIs in the same year Morkel took 19 wickets at an average of 22.84 and capped it off with 12 Twenty20wickets at 15.25 going at 6.31 runs an over to take a total of 80 international wickets at an average of 22.45 for the 2010 calendar year, the most productive of his career.
He continued to plug away in his Test career but it was his ODI career which was taking off as he took 26 wickets at 17.65 runs in the 2011 calendar year and 20 wickets at 21.14 runs in 2012. The big man was coming into his own in the shorter formats and establishing himself as one of the best short-form players in the game, and as a result, spent some time at the top of the ICC ODI Bowler rankings during 2010 and 2011.
The fast bowler could never quite become the no. 1 bowler in the Test arena but could settle for third during that immaculate 2010 year.
However, as South Africa began to establish a pace attack that was one of the best in the history of the game, they were rewarded at the end of the 2012 calendar year by becoming the number one Test side in the world for the first time and essentially held this position until the start of 2016 aside from a three month period in 2014 where Australia was crowned the number one nation.
In correlation with the team’s performances, Morne has compiled an excellent record since the start of the 2013 calendar year until now with 130 wickets at 25.40 in 38 Test matches and recently was named man of the series in the 2017 Basil D’Oliveira Trophy (vs. England in England) with 19 wickets at 26.36 over the four-Test series.
(AFP PHOTO/Tony ASHBY)
Despite this record, he has been limited recently due to injury and up and coming young fast bowlers.
Prior to the Test Series against Australia Morkel’s Test record stands at 294 wickets at 28.08 with seven five-wicket hauls over a 12-year career featuring in 83 Tests. The tall fast bowler regularly stars with the ball for the Titans when he’s not on international duties with South Africa and averages 23.20 with 103 wickets in 25 games for his domestic side.
Morkel’s international record might suggest that he has been a better limited overs bowler throughout his career with an outstanding average of 25.32 in 117 ODIs with 188 wickets and 47 Twenty20wickets at an economy rate of 7.50.
The South African also featured in eight editions of the massive Indian Premier League representing three of the franchises (Rajasthan Royals (2009-10), Delhi Daredevils (2011-13) and Kolkata Knight Riders (2014-16)). He played a total 70 games and took 77 wickets at an economy rate of 7.69.
Morkel has been a part of an incredible South African Test side which won 48% of their matches in which Morne was apart of and only lost 25% of the games. In the summer of 2008/09, this side became the first team since the West Indies squad of 1992/93 to beat Australia in the tough conditions of the land down under.
Morne Morkel is set to finish his international career against Australia, a team that he historically struggles against. However, he has performed well as of late and the South African boys will be looking to give this South African legend the send-off he deserves.
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