All-rounder Albie Morkel says he considers his international career as good as finished.
Albie Morkel has become the second South African in a week to declare his time with the national side is over.
Morkel admitted that his chances of playing for the Proteas again are very unlikely and that he is going to focus on domestic cricket – such as the current IPL where the all-rounder plays for Chennai Super Kings.
“By all counts I won’t play for South Africa again, so it’s not a desire of mine to prove anything to anyone,” Morkel said in an interview to the Times of India.
“My focus will be to do my best for CSK and contribute on and off the field.”
On Wednesday South African batsman Ashwell Prince also confirmed the end of his ambitions of playing for his country, after signing a new two-year deal with Lancashire.
Prince and Morkel were two of the five players not given new central contracts by Cricket South Africa last month.
As well as the duo, Jacques Rudolph, Rusty Theron and the retired Mark Boucher were also not included in CSA’s 21-man list.
Whereas at 35-years-old Prince has had his time at the top level of cricket, Morkel is a bit more of an anomaly after seemingly not being able to transfer his domestic form onto the international stage.
The 31-year-old is considered to be one of the best Twenty20 all-rounders in world cricket and is a key player in the CSK team.
Yet Morkel has failed to perform for South Africa in the short over formats, with disappointing batting and bowling averages in both ODIs and Twenty20s and his lack of a central contract seems to confirm the Proteas are going to look elsewhere.
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