Pakistan team’s bowling coach Morne Morkel has resigned from his position following the poor performance of the side in the recent ICC World Cup 2023 tournament. Pakistan finished in 5th position with just 4 wins from 9 games in the tournament.
The former South African pacer, Morne Morkel was appointed as bowling coach of the Pakistan side in June 2023. He previously was with Namibia during the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. He is the bowling coach of IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants and Durban's Super Giants in the SA20.
He had replaced Shaun Tait in the capacity, but with Pakistan bowling performing extremely poorly in the World Cup 2023, Morkel decided to step down on his own.
Haris Rauf gave 533 runs in 9 matches for his 16 wickets, which is the most runs conceded by a bowler ever in a single World Cup edition. The spearhead of the Pakistani attack, Shaheen Afridi conceded 481 runs in 9 games for his 18 wickets.
The Pakistani spinners Iftikhar Ahmed, Usama Mir, Mohammad Nawaz, and Shadab Khan combined to take only 12 wickets in the entire tournament.
“Morne Morkel has resigned as the bowling coach of the Pakistan Men’s team. The former South Africa fast bowler joined the Pakistan team on a six-month contract in June this year. Morkel’s first assignment with the men’s team was their tour to Sri Lanka for the two-match Test series.
Pakistan Cricket Board will announce his replacement in due course. Pakistan's next assignment is a three-match Test series against Australia scheduled to take place from December 14, 2023, to January 7, 2024, in Australia,” PCB announced in a statement.
It remains to be seen whether Pakistan appoints another foreigner as a bowling coach or goes with a local one.
(PCB inputs)
