Rebooted Morkel talks as good a game as he plays, but for how long?

London — Morne Morkel talks to himself. At least‚ he did after England hammered South Africa by 211 runs in the Lord’s Test two weeks ago.

“You need to look at the man in the mirror and ask the questions‚” Morkel said.

“Did we lose the Test match ourselves or did they really beat us?

“The cricket we played at times was the kind of cricket played by a team that hasn’t played Test cricket for a while.”

Not since the tour to New Zealand in March‚ in fact‚ and it showed as South Africa crashed to 119 all out in a second innings that lasted only 36.4 overs.

But they put that right in the second Test at Trent Bridge‚ where they kept England in the field for 104 overs in the second innings before declaring and dismissing them for 133 to win by 340 runs.

Morkel played a vital role in all that‚ taking the key wicket of Joe Root in the first innings and keeping it watertight in the second while the timber tumbled from the other end.

Since returning to Test cricket in March from a back injury that had kept him out for 13 months‚ Morkel has torn into the crease with renewed vigour and verve.

His reward has been 20 wickets in five Tests since his comeback at an average of 27.40 and a strike rate of 48.5.

That compares favourably with his stats before the injury: 29.33 and 56.3.

But we should appreciate him while he lasts. Morkel turns 33 in October‚ which should mean he has a few good years left. Maybe not …

“My career’s nearly finished‚” he said.

Might he take the AB de Villiers approach and try and trim his workload‚ perhaps by narrowing his focus to a particular format?

“I don’t know. After this tour we’ll see.

“I’ll speak with Cricket South Africa and see where they see me featuring‚ but I love playing for this team.

“It’s not rocket science that they probably want to start looking‚ in white-ball cricket‚ at the 2019 World Cup. Am I going to part of those plans?

“If I can be around to help the younger guys find their feet‚ so be it. I’ll do that. For me the main focus is this tour and then we’ll go back and see how we go.”

He added that “mentally and physically I feel strong”‚ which hasn’t always been the case.

“In the past I put myself under a lot of pressure‚ but I think those days are gone‚” he said. “I know how quickly a career can change.”

Morkel has had his share of injuries‚ and he has been the subject of doubting whispers about his confidence in key moments.

But he seems to be in sound health on both scores‚ even daring to quip on his way down the stairs at Trent Bridge to chat to reporters‚ “Are we going to talk about no-balls?”

Ben Stokes was 44 not out in the first innings at Lord’s when Morkel bowled him with a delivery that scythed off the seam.

Trouble was‚ you could have fitted a footlong hotdog between the back of Morkel’s heel and the bowling crease.

That was the 13th test wicket he had been denied because he had taken it with a no-ball — a world record.

It takes strength to face up to that‚ in the mirror and elsewhere.

 - TimesLIVE