Morne Morkel’s career has at times seemed to span as long as he is tall, but the big friendly giant will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest South African fast bowlers of all time.
Morkel shocked the entire cricket fraternity when, on Monday, 26 February, he announced that he would be retiring from all forms of international cricket following the test series against Australia.
He made his test debut way back, in the 2006 Boxing Day test against India, taking three wickets in his first match.
His ODI debut came in 2007 for the Africa XI who took on an Asia XI in the Afro-Asia Cup.
He would claim three wickets in the first match, and eight in total through the Cup.
Morne and his brother Albie would become the first brothers to open the bowling in ODI history when they paired up in the second match.
Finally, his T20I debut came at the inaugural ICC T20 World Cup in 2007, where he claimed a commendable nine wickets with an economy of only six throughout the tournament.
Morkel’s career would simply soar from then, with his height working to his advantage by allowing him to generate steep bounce that often troubled batsmen.
His hard work and undying love for the Proteas jersey would go on to see him become South Africa’s fifth highest wicket-taker in test cricket, sixth highest in ODIs and the third highest in T20Is.
With the Australia series coming up, Morkel will have the chance to join a very exclusive club of bowlers by becoming only the fifth South African to take 300 test wickets (he currently has 294).
If he reaches 300, he will join the likes of Shaun Pollock, Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini, and Allan Donald.
He also looks set to bowl his 16 000th delivery in test cricket as well as stride out to the middle for his 100th test innings as a batsman.
Despite his lethal bowling style, Morkel is known as one of the true gents of the game who is ever humble.
Australian cricket legend Steve Waugh even described Morkel as one of the most underrated cricketers in the world.
“His retirement is good news for a lot of batsmen around the world,” Waugh said.
“The thing I like about Morne is that he’s a fantastic bowler who is very respectful of the game. He’s a very humble person.
“I just like the way he plays the game. He just tears into every ball and gives it everything. He’s one of the most underrated players in the world.”
Morkel’s tenure in the Proteas jersey would see him form part of what South African fast bowling great Allan Donald described as the best pace attack in the world, alongside Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander.
“On behalf of the South African cricket family, our stakeholders and fans around the world, we thank Morne for being both a fine player and an outstanding role model who has made our country proud,” said Cricket South Africa’s acting CEO, Thabang Moroe.
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