Morkel's retirement is a good news for batsmen, feels former Australian cricketer

Veteran South African cricketer Morne Morkel recently called it quits in international cricket. At a press conference, Morkel announced that the upcoming Australia series will be his last international assignment. Certainly, Morkel has been an integral part of the Proteas setup and his services will be deeply missed. Recently, former Australian skipper Steve Waugh heaped praises on Morkel.

Steve Waugh remarked that Morne Morkel has indeed been a great player for the South African side. He expressed his thoughts about Morkel’s game play. Waugh feels that Morkel has been a very underrated bowler. In essence, this sounds very true considering the fact that he has always bowled in the shadows of Dale Steyn.

Waugh also conceded that the retirement news of Morne Morkel is a good one for the batsmen around the world. He noted that the ability of Morkel to tear in every ball with all the energy made him a special player.

”That’s good news for a lot of batsmen around the world. He’s been terrorizing batsmen for a long time. I didn’t play against him, but I just like the way he plays the game. He just tears in every ball and gives it everything. He’s one of the most underrated players in the world,” Sport24 quoted Steve Waugh as saying.

Career in numbers

The 33-year old Morne Morkel has played 83 Tests for South Africa thus far. Also, he has played 117 ODIs and 44 T20Is in the Proteas colors. His career has spanned over a decade and the lanky pace bowler has 529 international wickets to his name across the three formats of the game.

Speaking specifically about the longest format of the game, Morkel has scalped 294 Test wickets including seven five-wicket hauls. Currently, he is fifth in the list of all-time highest wicket takers for South Africa in the Test matches. In the upcoming four match Test series against Australia, Morkel is expected to breach the 300-landmark.

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