LAHORE: Former South Africa pacer Morne Morkel has resigned as the bowling coach of the Pakistan Men’s team, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced Monday.
“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,” said PCB in a statement.
“Morkel’s first assignment with the men’s team was their tour to Sri Lanka for the two-match Test series,” the statement added.
The cricketing body further shared that Morkel’s replacement will be announced in due course.
“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 stated.
Notably, Morne Morkel’s resignation came just days after Pakistan were knocked out of the ICC World Cup 2023 from the group stage, failing to make it to the knockout stage.
Pakistan, famous for their lethal pace bowling, failed to do wonders in their go-to department in the ongoing mega event.
In their last league match against defending champions England, Pakistan needed to win by a hefty margin of 287 runs or 260 balls to spare to go past New Zealand’s superior net run-rate, who consequently managed to hold on to their fourth spot in the standings.
Pakistan, while chasing a daunting 338-run target, could get to 30/2 in 6.4 overs, resulting in them bowing out of the semi-final race.
The Green Shirts’ campaign in the ICC World Cup 2023 was nothing short of a rollercoaster ride.
Babar Azam’s men started their World Cup campaign with two victories.
They outclassed the Netherlands by 81 runs in their campaign opener before they pulled off the highest run chase in the history of the ODI World Cup to down Sri Lanka by six wickets.
However, it was a sudden change of fortune for the men in green as they succumbed to a four-match losing streak, their first in the history of the World Cup.
Their four-match losing streak saw them sink to their first-ever loss against Afghanistan in ODIs before losing to South Africa for the first time in a World Cup match in this century.
When it appeared to be done and dusted for the Green Shirts, Babar Azam’s men scripted an astonishing comeback to the ICC World Cup 2023 semi-final race by thrashing Bangladesh by seven wickets and 105 balls to spare.
Pakistan then pulled off another heist when they downed New Zealand by 21 runs as per the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern (DLS) method despite the latter side scoring a mammoth 401/6 in the allotted 50 overs.
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