Captain Albie Morkel’s participation in the remainder of the Durban Heat’s Mzansi Super League campaign is in doubt.

Morkel sustained an arm injury during Friday’s nine-wicket defeat to the Nelson Mandela Bay Giants at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth.

The injury might rule him out of Wednesday’s clash against the Paarl Rocks at Kingsmead in Durban or even the rest of the tournament.

He was at the non-striker’s end during a partnership with fellow all-rounder Vernon Philander on Friday. Philander struck a delivery from leg-spinner Imran Tahir, which crashed into Morkel, who couldn’t get out of harm’s way quickly enough.

The painful blow forced the veteran Morkel to retire hurt on 28.

‘Albie has gone for scans. It was a bit unfortunate we lost him at that stage. He was our main man and he was playing well at that point in time,’ said team-mate and stand-in skipper Khaya Zondo.

‘It was just one of those freaky things in cricket. It gives us some time to regroup before we play our next game.’

A Heat bowling attack minus the services of Morkel were unable to successfully defend a modest 128-run target, as the hosts won with 15 deliveries to spare. Giants captain Jon-Jon Smuts led the chase with an unbeaten half-century.

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