South African paceman Morne Morkel expressed his regret for not performing as per to their potential in the opening Test and said that they all are hungry and excited to play the next Dhaka Test if the weather permit.

“We like to play Test cricket and we’re very excited. We’ve got some overs under our belt. We haven’t played as a Test unit you know for a while. We haven’t bowled so many overs as a unit before that so that’s nice to get that in Chittagong. Yeah we’re excited and hopefully the weather will be good and the condition will be fair and we can have a good Test match,” said Morkel yesterday.
“We have got a bit of cabin fever sitting in the hotel and especially most of the guys so we were playing out football in the rain.
Really excited to go and get this Test match on their way and there are eleven hungry Proteas in the dressing room,” Morkel said this after their day’s practice session in Mirpur.
The right-handed pacer said that they are looking forward to the weather more than wicket condition as they missed to sparkle due to the adverse weather.
“I haven’t really looked at the wicket yet. I think the most important thing is to keep an eye on the weather. I think from a bowling point of view the outfield and those sort of things are going to play a key role,” the Transvaal-born fast-bowler singled out.
“In Chittagong with the little bit of the rain we had and playing in the sporting rain, the ball got wet and soft got quickly. It was tough for us to keep the ball dry especially with the humidity as well. So we are hoping that we can as a bowling unit we can take the heat, bring the sun out and get the conditions a bit dry so that we can execute our skills well.”  “I just felt that the outfield and obviously we as a team when the rain is spitting to stay out there for as long as possible. I just found that the ball got wet quite quickly, as it is the ball got we and once this SD ball is wet.
It’s quite difficult to dry it again. I think Simon Harmer,  especially struggled to grip the ball. For us as a seam bowling unit to get one ball shined up and the other one scuffed up in these conditions was next to impossible,” he added.
About pace spearhead Dale Steyn, who is one wicket away of 400-wicket in Test as the second South African bowler after Shane Pollok (421), the 31-year-old seamer said that he has been leading the Proteas bowling-attack for last some years and fetched a lot of success for them.
“ Dale’s been unbelievable. He has led this attack for years now and he has been the number one Test bowler for many years. I’m happy for him. He’s a guy who really works hard and always looking to improve, always looking to shape the ball from different angles,” he said.
“He’s like a good red wine. He’s going to get better with age. I think he is going to be special when he gets his 400th one but I think there is plenty more in the tank for him,” Morkel, who scalped 217-wicket just from his 63-Test appearance opined.