Morne Morkel resigns as bowling coach after Pakistan’s World Cup debacle

Lahore [Pakistan]: After Pakistan’s disastrous campaign in the ICC World Cup 2023 ended with a defeat against England, Morne Morkel has stepped down as the bowling coach of the Men in Green’s team, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced on Monday.

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.

The Pakistan cricket body will announce his replacement 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 said in an official statement.

Morkel coached Pakistan in the Test series against Sri Lanka which the Men in Green clinched by 2-0, and an ODI series against Afghanistan which ended in Pakistan white-washing the opponents. He also coached the team for the Asia Cup and World Cup.

Pakistan ended their disastrous campaign in the WC with a debacle at the hands of England by 93 runs.

Babar Azam-led side suffered five defeats out of their nine matches and one at the hands of arch-rival India by seven wickets. In their last league match of the tournament, Men in Green started proceedings knowing that they had the slimmest of chances of still reaching the SFs, requiring a win by an enormous margin to force a gargantuan swing on net run rate.

And the possibility of such a result soon disappeared as the 2019 champions England built towards a sizeable first-innings score and registered a 93-run win.