Morkel warns Proteas to be wary of ‘carefree’ Sri Lankan ‘one-day specialists’

Cape Town: South African all-rounder Albie Morkel has warned his side to be wary of Sri Lanka, which has one-day specialist players, ahead of the five match one-day international series.

Morkel warned that South Africa ideally would not desire to play “catch-up cricket” in the series because most players have got only a limited training opportunity in the one- day format due to playing Test series or Twenty20 games. “They are a nation with a bit of a carefree spirit, if you like. They play with plenty of flair, and they’ve added a couple of one-day specialists (following the Test series) now, like Lasith Malinga, (Nuwan) Kulasekara and the spinner (Ajantha) Mendis,” Sport 24 quoted Morkel, as saying. He admitted that he had “gone back and forth” in selection terms for the Proteas “through injury, lack of form and so on”. “Your mental attitude is important - you could just give up when you lose your place or decide to go and play elsewhere. From a personal point of view when I go back (to franchise cricket) it’s with the attitude of really wanting to be a senior player at the Titans,” Morkel added. He also expressed confidence in AB de Villiers’ new role as captain. “He’ll do a great job. He’s on top of his own game and that’s very important in a leader. He won’t change his style,” he said. ANI