Albie Morkel Biography

Full Name : Johannes Albertus Morkel 

Date of Birth : 10th June 1981

Place of Birth : Vereeniging, Transvaal Province, South Africa 

Height : 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 

Batting Style : Left-handed 

Bowling Style : Right-Arm Medium-Fast 

Role : All-Rounder 

Only Test (cap 304) : 27th September 2006 v Australia 

ODI Debut (cap 76) : 20th February 1995 v New Zealand 

Johannes Albertus Morkel, better known as Albie Morkel, is a South African cricketer.  Albie Morkel is an all-rounder who bowls right-arm medium fast and bats left-handed.  Albie Morkel 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 

Morkel at fielding practice, Adelaide Oval, January 2009

First Class

Albie Morkel bowling was quite impressive in his first seasons in first class cricket, as he burst onto the scene with 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.

During the 2008 Summer season Albie played for Durham County Cricket Club in the North East of England along with fellow South African Shaun Pollock mainly in the Twenty20 Cup competition.  Albie Morkel was dropped from the National team to the tour of Windies to open door for Dave Miller and others .

In 2012, Morkel was confirmed as Somerset Cricket Club's second overseas player alongside Chris Gayle. Roelof Van der Merwe was expected to be retained by Somerset but it was expected that a work permit wouldn't be obtainable.

International 

Albie Morkel  statistics on his international debut tour to New Zealand were not very impressive, as he got two wickets at the cost of 48 runs apiece, 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-Asia Cup, but withdrew due to injury.  Albie Morkel 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.

Albie Morkel 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.

Albie Morkel was promoted to the Test side for the third Test of the home series against Australia in 2008/09, ironically replacing his brother Morné in the side.

Indian Premier League (IPL)

Albie played for the Chennai Super Kings since the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League where he had a very successful tournament as an all-rounder.

Albie Morkel 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.

Personal Life

Albie hails from an Afrikaner family, who are big cricket fans. Albie is born to Albert and Mariana Morkel as the second of three children making Morné the youngest.  Albie Morkel older brother, Malan also played cricket. Albie is married to his childhood crush, Marthmari (née Groenewald). Their son, Albertus Johannes "AJ" Morkel was born on 1 December 2009 and their daughter Cara Morkel was born on 4 June 2011.The family lives in Pretoria. Prior to marriage, he used to live with his brother Morné and team mate AB de Villiers in Pretoria.