Nov 23, 2011 05:55 PM
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(Updated Nov 23, 2011 05:54 PM)
Albie Morkel, (Born on June 10, 1981) a right-arm fast-medium bowler and left-handed batsman, was earmarked as the new Lance Klusener, but hasn't quite been able to live up to his billing despite some glimpses of match-winning skills.
Morkel comes from a cricketing family, with father Albert having played for Transvaal B and his brother Morne having also played for South Africa. He rose to prominence playing for his provincial side Easterns against the touring West Indians in 2003-04 when he defied food poisoning to score a century and take five wickets at Benoni.
Major teams are South Africa, Africa XI, Chennai Super Kings & South Africa Under-19s.!
Albie Morkel, is a South African cricketer. He is an all-rounder who bowls right-arm- medium fast and bats left-handed. He is famous for his six hitting abilities in Twenty20 cricket. Albie has a brother, Morné Morkel, who also plays international cricket for South Africa while his father Albert played provincial cricket in South Africa.
Career:*
First Class:*
His bowling was quite impressive in his first seasons in first class cricket, as he has taken six for 36 for Easterns against Griqualand West, but in the 2004/05 season he was expected to take more of the bowling effort for the Titans, but only took 20 wickets at a bowling average of 40.65. However, that coincided with an improvement in his batting, as he made his first double century of his career, with 204 not out against Western Province Boland.
International:
His statistics on his international debut tour to New Zealand were not very impressive, as he got two wickets at the cost of 48 run, but he did get five wickets quite cheaply on Zimbabwe's tour of South Africa. Nevertheless, Morkel was picked for the Africa squad to play Asia in the 2005 Afro-Asian Cup, but withdrew due to injury. He appeared however for Africa the following series, in 2007, and made history in the second game when he opened the bowling with his brother Morné, the first time two brothers have done so in ODI cricket.
His recently secured two man-of-the-match accolades against Australia in the current Commonwealth Series 2009 down under, as well as the Man of the Series accolade for the One Day Internationals.
He was promoted to the Test side for the third Test of the home series against Australia in 2008/09, ironically replacing his brother Morné Morkal in the side.
Indian Premier League:
Albie played for the Chennai Super Kings since the inaugural season of the IPL where he had a very successful tournament as an all-rounder.
He is one of the regular names in the overseas four of the playing XI. Morkel's big-hitting abilities and consistent bowling performances has been one of the key reasons of the Super Kings' successful run in the Indian Premier League.In the 2010 IPL, he struck a record third-wicket partnership in the tournament along with Murali Vijay against the Rajasthan Royals.
Morkel was retained by Chennai for the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League.
I was inspired by his Strong quote as,
"The real frustration is not being able to start the season. I believe I'm still good enough to make the national side, but I just need to perform!"
