'Sehwag's wicket was the key'

Morkel returns to wicket-taking ways under helpful conditions

After two wicketless outings in Abu Dhabi against Pakistan, the six-foot-five Morkel relished a return to wicket-taking ways, finishing with four for 20 as India slumped to 136 for nine on day one.

Morkel said later that getting Virender Sehwag out for a third-ball duck had helped South Africa’s cause immensely. “It was a very nice feeling to get him out early,” he said of the opener’s dismissal by Dale Steyn.

The right-hander slashed hard at Steyn’s third ball of innings’ only second over to fall into the trap laid by the host side.

“He is a dangerman who has hurt us in the past. He comes aggressively at you. We had our plans in place which was to stay calm and bowl in the right areas and luckily, he gave it away a little bit.”

Under pressure

The tall paceman added that the quick bowling unit was under some pressure after Graeme Smith opted to bowl first.

“We needed to bowl well and execute our plans well. On tracks like this, you can get carried away but today, we kept calm, ran up and did our basics right. It was a difficult pitch to bat first up, you were never sure whether to come forward or to stay back.”
Refusing to fault the Indian batsmen for what was abject capitulation, he went on, “We had lost a bit of time due to the rain. We wanted to knock them over quickly, put our peg in the ground and put our feet on the Test match.

“From ball one, we were switched on and had the momentum with us. They have got a quality top-six or seven, a very experienced middle-order. But today was our day and we will take it.”

Morkel added that the key to batting well on this surface was to leave the ball well. “The new ball nips around a fair bit,” he observed.

“If we go out and leave the ball well and play well, I can’t see us not getting runs. The first hour tomorrow will be crucial, there will be a lot of juice in the wicket. The key will be to be patient and to wait for the loose balls to put away.”