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Morné Morkel
India · Left-arm orthodox · All-rounder
Morne Morkel is a pace bowler who has represented South Africa Cricket across international formats and featured for franchise sides in the IPL, BBL, and Mzansi Super League. Across 308 career matches he has taken 614 wickets at a bowling average of 26.71 and an economy of 3.99. His primary competition is the One-Day International format, where he has played 113 matches and claimed 187 wickets at 25.13. His most recent appearances came in early 2021 during a BBL stint with Brisbane Heat, where his results across that short spell were inconsistent. The bulk of his career numbers were built representing South Africa Cricket across 117 matches.
Runs
0
Wickets
0
Bat Avg
11.2
Bowl Avg
26.7
2026 Season Context
Current team & role
Delhi Capitals · All-Rounder
Recent form
Morkel's last 10 appearances came in the BBL and Mzansi Super League between late 2019 and early 2021, where he picked up 8 wickets across those matches but also returned two wicketless outings of 0/4
Strongest format
One-Day International — With 187 wickets in 113 ODIs at a bowling average of 25.13, the ODI format is where Morkel has played most and produced his best wicket-taking returns
Career stats overview
86 Test · 113 ODI · 109 T20I appearances — spanning 2009 to present.
Test
86 matches
944
Runs scored
309
Wickets taken
Where his legacy was forged — the format that rewards patience and precision.
ODI
113 matches
268
Runs scored
187
Wickets taken
The middle-overs architect — a decade of white-ball consistency.
T20I
109 matches
147
Runs scored
118
Wickets taken
Brief but impactful — quality over volume in the shortest format.
Format-aware deep dive
Where he dominates
Home record
215
wickets
Average 21.4 on Indian soil — better than any active spinner of the era.
Fourth-innings force
112
wickets
A third of his Test wickets come on day five, when bowlers decide outcomes.
Lower-order resilience
38.4
batting avg
At No.7 his average beats every Indian specialist in that slot since 2015.
Elite opposition
198
wkts in 48 M
Combined record vs Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa.
Consistency
14
five-wicket hauls
Third-most by any Indian bowler since his Test debut.
WTC presence
2
finals played
In the conversation every cycle. Central to this India red-ball side.
Career threads
Beyond the numbers
614 wickets across three formats
Across 308 career appearances, Morkel has claimed 614 wickets at a bowling average of 26.71. That places him among the most prolific pace bowlers to have played for South Africa, with his workload spread across Tests, ODIs, and T20 competitions worldwide.
ODI record: 187 wickets at 25.13
In 113 One-Day Internationals, Morkel took 187 wickets at an average of 25.13 and an economy of 4.95. It is his primary competition by match count and represents his most consistent format across the full arc of his career.
England his most productive opponent
Against England Cricket across 23 matches, Morkel has taken exactly 100 wickets at an economy of 3.41. That combination of volume and control against one of the strongest batting sides in world cricket is a standout number in his records.
Newlands his most lethal venue
At Newlands in Cape Town across 11 matches, Morkel has taken 64 wickets at an economy of 3.43. No venue in his data returns a higher wicket tally, and the economy figure indicates how miserly he has been in those conditions.
Test career: 309 wickets across 86 matches
His Test record of 309 wickets across 86 matches at an economy of 3.11 shows how naturally his pace and length suited the longer format. The economy rate in Test cricket is comfortably his tightest across all competitions.
Head-to-head
Vs opponents
Career totals broken down by the teams M Morkel has faced most often, heat-scaled by output.
India
- Matches
- 27
- Runs
- 323
- Wickets
- 89
England
- Matches
- 23
- Runs
- 316
- Wickets
- 100
Australia
- Matches
- 22
- Runs
- 192
- Wickets
- 91
Pakistan
- Matches
- 14
- Runs
- 106
- Wickets
- 40
Sri Lanka
- Matches
- 9
- Runs
- 32
- Wickets
- 48
New Zealand
- Matches
- 8
- Runs
- 129
- Wickets
- 57
West Indies
- Matches
- 7
- Runs
- 63
- Wickets
- 56
Bangladesh
- Matches
- 6
- Runs
- 19
- Wickets
- 25
Grounds played at
Home & away grounds
The venues where M Morkel has turned out most often.
Kingsmead, Durban
- Matches
- 13
- Runs
- 182
- Wickets
- 45
SuperSport Park, Centurion
- Matches
- 12
- Runs
- 83
- Wickets
- 42
Newlands, Cape Town
- Matches
- 11
- Runs
- 89
- Wickets
- 64
New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
- Matches
- 11
- Runs
- 71
- Wickets
- 44
Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi
- Matches
- 8
- Runs
- 47
- Wickets
- 28
The Oval, London
- Matches
- 6
- Runs
- 60
- Wickets
- 15
M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
- Matches
- 4
- Runs
- 30
- Wickets
- 8
Dubai International Cricket Stadium
- Matches
- 4
- Runs
- 24
- Wickets
- 18
Official profile
Elsewhere on the web
ESPNcricinfo
M Morkel's profile
Historical aggregates derived from Cricsheet (cricsheet.org) under ODC-BY licence. 2001/02–2026 IPL seasons. Batting average uses dismissals as the denominator; bowler wickets are credited only for bowler-kind dismissals (bowled, caught, lbw, caught-and-bowled, stumped, hit wicket). Venue and opposition splits are rebuilt after every ingest from the Cricsheet archive.
Photo credits (1)
- Morné Morkel — photo by YellowMonkey/Blnguyen, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source