Morkel Denys Image 2 Western Province 1929

Description

Plumstead, Cape Town born all rounder Denys Morkel made his debut in first class cricket in 1924-25. A right-handed batsman and right-arm fast-medium bowler, he first appeared for South Africa against Capt. R.T. Stanyforth’s M.C.C. side in 1927-28, when he played in all five Tests making his Test debut at Johannesburg in December 1927, but, though he made some useful scores in the 30’s and 40’s, he met with no particular success and his bowling was hardly used. His first century came in 1928-29, against Orange Free State, and in the following season, as captain of Western Province, he hit 208 not out against Natal. This was the season in which he (114) and left-hander S.S.L. Steyn (261 not out) put on 222 for the eighth wicket against Border at Cape Town, still a South African record. He played relatively little Currie Cup cricket, though he averaged 46.96 in his 30 innings and took 46 wickets with his bowling at an average of 26.65.

It was on the tour of England in 1929 that he showed his real possibilities. In first class matches he scored 1,443 runs with an average of 34.35 and took 69 wickets at 26.01. In the Tests he came second both in batting and bowling: at Lord’s he made his best Test score of 88 and 17 not out and took seven wickets, at Old Trafford he scored 63 out of a total of 130 and at The Oval he made 81. He also made 70 against M.C.C., and took 7-61 against Middlesex. His sole hundred came against Yorkshire at Hull, and he made 63 (all but half the innings total) and 36 in the innings defeat at Old Trafford. Tall and well built he bowled fast medium away-swingers with an easy action and plenty of pace off the pitch, and was probably the best bowler in the team. A fine driver on the both sides of the wicket, he was inclined to be impetuous but had, as he showed at Lord’s, a solid defence when required. But the most fateful performance was 7-61 against millionaire Sir Julien Cahn’s XI at West Bridgford near the end of the tour. Cahn invited him to play for his team, which toured out-of-the-way territories.

Having already decided to settle in England he was not available to play against the M.C.C. side in 1930-31. However he was a member in 1931-32 of the South African team to Australia as South Africa’s vice-captain, where he was a distinct disappointment. As a batsman he could never get going in the Tests and his bowling was a complete failure. Only in the last match against Western Australia did he show his best form, scoring 150 not out and taking his career best bowling figures of 8-13 in the second innings. This was the end of his 16 match Test career, in which he’d scored four half centuries and averaged 24.55 and taken 18 wickets with a best of 4-93.

In 1932 Sir Julien Cahn helped him to establish a business in the motor trade in Nottingham, which became a flourishing concern. For Sir Julien between 1932 and 1939 he made nearly 10,000 runs and took over 400 wickets. Morkel hit his career best 251 in better than even time against the South American touring team in 1932. He was invited to play for The Gentlemen against The Players in 1931, 1932 and 1934 at The Oval, scoring 85 in the second match and played his final first class match in 1938.

During the Second World War he served in the Army. By then he had played in 86 first class matches, scoring 4,494 runs at an average of 34.30 with 8 centuries and 22 half centuries. With his bowling he took 174 wickets at 28.58 apiece, taking five wickets or more in an innings on half a dozen occasions.

His brother, Ray, also played for Western Province and at one time showed promise of being the better bowler of the two.

Vintage Cricketers was founded in July 2019. There are more photographs of this cricketer in the Vintage Cricketers library, which are due to be loaded in due course. In the meantime, please send a message to us using the contact form at the bottom left of this page and we can arrange to prepare and publish all images of this cricketer if you have a particular interest in him.