South Africa vs Australia 2018: 4th Test, Day 3, Talking points

#4 Morne Morkel suffers side strain in his farewell Test

Morne Morkel suffered a left side strain and stopped mid-way through his 13th over

At the start of this series against Australia, Morne Morkel had revealed that this would be his last series. He cited the ‘demanding schedule’ and his family as the reasons for his retirement. In the Test series against India, he looked in good rhythm and took 13 wickets in 3 games.

In the series opener against Australia in Durban, he had an off-game as he took only 3 wickets in two innings as South Africa lost the Test match. Lungi Ngidi’s good show in Port Elizabeth made it tougher for Morkel to comeback. But Ngidi’s injury paved the way for the 32-year-old tall pacer to comeback. He responded with a match-winning haul of 9/110 in the match helping South Africa take a 2-1 series lead.

On what was expected to be a grand farewell for Morkel, he is already having a torrid time in this Test match. He got out for a first-ball duck which left Temba Bavuma stranded on 95. He started well with the ball and looked in decent rhythm. He also picked up the wicket of Mitchell Marsh.

However, in his 13th over of the innings, he pulled up and felt some pain in his left leg. He walked up to Faf du Plessis and must have said that he cannot continue. Thus, he took his cap and walked away.

That was a very disappointing and unfortunate way to end a spell, especially in his final Test match. It was later revealed that he had a side strain. He was seen stretching and doing some warm-ups during the lunch break. He also tried to bowl a few deliveries testing his left side.

It is a similar injury which he picked up in the first Test against Bangladesh in October last year which kept him out for almost 3 months.