Morne Morkel: Finishing on a high

Morne Morkel is probably the first person one notices in the South African team, standing as he does at well over six feet. But throughout his career, the right-arm paceman has played second fiddle to the likes of Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and, more recently, Kagiso Rabada.

He hasn’t done badly, though: 306 wickets in 85 Test matches, 188 wickets in 117 one-day internationals, and 47 wickets in 44 Twenty20 Internationals – that’s a total of 541 international wickets to add to in what’s going to be his last appearance for South Africa, the final Test of the series against Australia in Johannesburg.

With his ability to top the 140kph mark regularly and extract steep bounce even on benign tracks, Morkel has more often than not done the job for his captain, bowling long spells and keeping the pressure up on the opposition batsmen. With Steyn, it was the perfect partnership: While Steyn kept the ball up and got it to move both ways, Morkel pushed the batsman back by digging the ball in short. That meant fewer wickets for him as compared to the others, but as important a contribution from the team’s point of view.

Before the start of the fixtures against Australia, Morkel announced that the four-match Test series would be his last. He was six short of the 300-wicket mark when the first Test started, but has since gone past the mark, reaching 306 by the end of the third Test, where he was named the Player of the Match for his nine-wicket haul, his first in Test cricket.

Not only did he become just the fifth South African to 300 Test wickets, the performance also helped him reach a personal high No.6 spot on the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings for bowlers.

Talk about signing off on a high!

Morkel in international cricket

Most wickets for South Africa in Tests

What they said“Morne has almost been, for the first six-seven-eight years of his career, the guy that has gone unnoticed. He was the work horse. He got his two or three-fors and I think only captains really appreciate the work Morne does.” – Faf du Plessis

“Couldn’t be more happy for this man! Great achievement bud, I just wish I was on the field to celebrate it with you. Still a big few days to go, but tonight it’s all about this man, Morne Morkel.” – Dale Steyn on Twitter after Morkel reached 300 Test wickets.

“He has found something else, he has found a bit more of that mongrel that we talk about. He is learning all the time and he is starting to show us what lies on the other side of Morne Morkel.” – Allan Donald in 2012

* Numbers updated at the end of the Cape Town Test against Australia