Morné Morkel

Some Lesser Known Facts About Morné Morkel

• Morne grew up in a cricketing family. His father and elder brothers were indulged in cricket at domestic and international levels. In childhood, Morne used to play cricket and rugby with his siblings in the backyard of their house.

• Morkel’s first-class career began at 19 when he played for the Eastern cricket team against the West Indian cricket team in South Africa in 2003. He took two wickets in the match and scored 44 runs in the first innings, including a ninth-wicket partnership of 141 runs.

• Morne in his first-class debut match against West Indies bowled 17 no-balls and gave away 54 runs in 5 overs.

• Morkel took five wickets in the CSA 4-Day Domestic Series in the 2003–04 season and helped the Easterns win the tournament.

• Morkel made headlines when he was selected for the first ICC T20 World Cup in 2007 when he finished the tournament with stats of 9 wickets at 13.33 and an economy rate of 6.00. This haul included a match-winning spell of 4/17 against New Zealand.

• Morkel was named as 12th man in the ‘Team of the Tournament’ by ESPNcricinfo for the 2007 T20I World Cup.

• Morkel took his first five-wicket haul in the 2004-05 season of the UCB Provincial Cup against Border cricket team.

• In February 2005, Morkel took 9 wickets against Zimbabwe while playing for a Combined XI of the Easterns and Northerns cricket team.

• Morkel ended the 2004-05 first-class season with 20 wickets at a bowling average of 18.20.

• In August 2005, Morkel went on a tour to Pakistan with South Africa Academy cricket team; he took six wickets in two four-day matches.

• Morne Morkel’s potential came to the spotlight during the 2007 T20 Cricket World Cup where he finished the tournament with 9 wickets at a bowling average of 13.33.

• During the Africa XI vs Asia XI ODI match in 2007, Morne Morkel and Albie Morkel both played for Africa XI and became the first duo in the history of ODI cricket to open the bowling attack for a team.

• Morkel struggled a lot with no balls at the beginning of his career but he improved with time.

• In 2008, Morne and Albie Morkel became the first brother duo in 56 years to be named South African Cricket Annual Cricketers of the Year in the same season.

• Morkel signed a Kolpak deal with Surrey County Cricket Club on a two-year contract after he retired from all forms of international cricket.

• After playing 3 seasons for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, in 2011, Morkel joined the Delhi Daredevils team in the IPL for an amount of $475,000.

• Morkel was the leading wicket-taker in the IPL in the 2012 season; he won the purple cap after he took 25 wickets in 16 matches for Delhi Daredevils.

  

• Morkel met his wife for the first time in 2012 during South Africa’s tour to Australia series. He proposed to her in October 2013 after which they got married to each other in  December 2014.

• Morne Morkel’s form peaked between July 2014 and March 2016, during which time he took 53 wickets at an average of 23.45 in 15 test matches.

• Morne Morkel was sold to the Kolkata Knight Riders team for Rs. 2.8 crore during the 2014 IPL auctions.

• Morkel’s last match in the IPL came in 2016 for the Kolkata Knight Riders.

  

• Morkel took 15 wickets in his last test series against Australia in South Africa in 2018 and helped South Africa win their first home series against Australia in 48 years. He also took a five-wicket haul in the third test match of the series.

  

• After Shaun Pollock, Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini and Allan Donald, Morne Morkel is the fifth bowler to take 300 wickets for South Africa in test cricket.

• On 6 November 2020, Morkel became a permanent resident of Australia. He then signed a deal with Brisbane Heat to play as a local player ahead of BBL 10.

  

• Morkel worked as the bowling consultant of Namibia’s cricket team during the 2022 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. He later joined the New Zealand coaching staff for the Women’s T20 World Cup in 2023.

• In June 2023, Morkel was appointed as the bowling coach of Pakistan’s men’s cricket team by the Pakistan Cricket Board. He resigned from the post in November 2023.

  

• After the appointment of Gautam Gambhir as the Indian men’s cricket team’s head coach, Morne Morkel was appointed as the bowling coach of the Indian cricket team in August 2024. His name was recommended by Gautam Gambhir with whom he worked alongside for two seasons at Lucknow Super Giants.