“Genius with ball in hand”: Morne Morkel congratulates Kagiso Rabada for picking five-wicket haul at Lord’s

Morne Morkel congratulates Kagiso Rabada: The South African pacer picked three wickets in quick succession on Day 2.

During the second day of the first Test of the ongoing South Africa’s tour of England at Lord’s, South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada picked his 12th Test five-wicket haul to bundle out the opposition for 165 in 45 overs.

Resuming from their overnight score of 116/6, all England could manage on Day 2 was 49/4 in 13 overs. Rabada, who had picked a couple of early wickets with the new ball yesterday, picked three in the first session today to pick a maiden five-fer at this venue.

Having managed to get his name on the Lord’s honour board, Rabada registered his fourth five-wicket haul against England and away from home, third under captain Dean Elgar, second in 2022 and first in England.

Bowling the first over on Thursday, Rabada witnessed South Africa batter Samuel Erwee dropping Ollie Pope in the slips on the sixth delivery of the day. As a result, the 27-year old player took the onus solely upon himself to dismiss Pope (73) as the right-handed batter played on a delivery to his stumps in the next over.

In his following over, Rabada sent veteran England seamer Stuart Broad (15) back to the pavilion after he lobbed a simple catch to Elgar at point. Bowling his seventh over in a row, Rabada finally managed to pick the last wicket by finding James Anderson (0) in front of the stumps.

Morne Morkel congratulates Kagiso Rabada for picking five-wicket haul at Lord’s

Rabada, who picked bowling figures of 19-3-52-5, earned applause from former South Africa fast bowler Morne Morkel. Having played 19 Tests in the same South African XI, Morkel congratulated Rabada for a special achievement of picking his maiden Lord’s five-wicket haul.

Genius with ball in hand..Congrats @kgrabada!! What a special achievement.. #ENGvsSA

— Morne Morkel (@mornemorkel65) August 18, 2022

Despite playing three Test matches at Lord’s during his 12-year old Test career, Morkel wasn’t able to pick a five-fer here.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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