Morkel ready to crank up the pace

Morne Morkel has a number of England batsmen in his sights this summer

South Africa’s emerging fast bowler Morne Morkel is promising to “crank up” the pace this summer - and warns he has his eyes on a couple of England batsmen.

Some English fans have already had a glimpse of the 6ft 6ins, 23-year-old’s capabilities in tour matches at Taunton and Uxbridge, where he was used in short but nonetheless alarming spells.

Andrew Strauss lasted just six balls for Middlesex before Morkel’s extra pace and bounce saw him caught behind, leaving the England opener to muse on similarities between the young South African and Steve Harmison.

Morkel warns ominously that he can bowl faster when the mood takes him - and he is impatient to see if everything clicks when the first Test gets under way at Lord’s this week.

“When everything is feeling 100% and my rhythm is nice, I’ll definitely be trying to crank it up,” he promised.

Morkel has eased his way back to fitness just in time for the start of the four-match series, having featured prominently in South Africa’s spring trip to India only to suffer a hamstring injury shortly after joining Yorkshire.

The bad news for England’s batsmen is that he is feeling stronger than ever.

“The break has helped me,” he said.

“India was a stressful time, my comeback series after I got injured in Pakistan (last year).

“I was mentally a bit drained - but I’m a different man now. The ball is coming out quite nicely and it’s nice to see the batsmen jumping around a bit.

“Come Thursday, it will be the England batsmen who are in my sights. I can’t wait.”

Several of Morkel’s team-mates have divulged that South Africa will, unsurprisingly, be targeting Kevin Pietersen in an effort to undermine the home batting.

The man himself is too coy to name names, but did spell out: “I’ve got my eye on a couple of batsmen that I would really love personally to get out.

“Any of the top five or six will be special wickets for me.”

Morkel will be hoping to get rid of Kevin Pietersen cheaply

As for the Harmison template, Morkel acknowledges the connection.

“When I was growing up I used to idolise guys like Glenn McGrath, and later on when Steve came on the scene, I also saw myself as bowling like Steve,” he said.

“I see myself as similar and have watched a lot of tapes of him.”

Also like Harmison, Morkel appears to be a gentle giant, preferring to let the ball do the talking for him.

“I use my energy behind the ball rather than to verbally abuse the batsman,” he said.

It is a method which appears to work if South Africa wicketkeeper Mark Boucher’s testimony is a reliable guide.

“I was standing with the slips, bowling with the wind, and the ball is taking off from a length,” Boucher said.

“I turned around to Graeme (Smith) and said ‘thank goodness he’s in my side, and I don’t have to face him’.”

It is all a far cry from Morkel’s first stab at cricket in this country - as a teenager in 2002, when he began so badly that he thought his first match might be his last.

“I played for a little village after school called Endons, in Stoke-on Trent,” he remembered.

“That was my first taste of English cricket. I struggled for my first couple of games, had a terrible game in the first one, and I think they thought of chasing me back home.”

He has come a long way since - as England’s batsmen are about to discover.