Morkel looks forward to the Emerging Players Tournament

Albie Morkel, the Titans allrounder, is hoping that the Emerging Players Tournament in Brisbane in the coming week will be good practice for the World Cup next year.

"I was in Australia with the SA A [South Africa A] team in 2002-03, but for SA A you're normally just playing against one team all the time," Morkel told Supercricket. "But this tournament will also have teams from New Zealand and India, which adds a different dimension. It will be like a mini-World Cup and every match will bring a different challenge because you'll be coming up against different opposition each game."

Morkel, 25, has been in and out of action due to injury all of last season, but he will start this season fully fit. "The season before last was a bad one because of my ankle injury, but now I've recovered 100% from all my injury problems and it will be awesome to make a positive start to the new season with a nice overseas tour."

The South African side in this tournament is being coached by Allan Donald and Corrie van Zyl, former fast bowlers for South Africa. Morkel hopes to work more on his bowling and is confident about running up and hitting the deck.

"I've worked on a few technical things with Allan Donald and he and Corrie are both legends who can really teach you to know your own action. We also had a batting camp with Gary Kirsten. You just don't get that sort of specialist coaching at the franchises.

"I'm looking forward to doing different jobs with the ball - like taking the new ball again or bowling at the death." Though he only played 3 matches in South Africa's domestic one-day competition last season, Morkel topped the first-class batting averages with 95 and took 10 wickets from five matches.

The 15-man squad includes Davey Jacobs, Orange Free State batsman, who will be touring Australia for the first time. "It's definitely my biggest tour so far and a nice opportunity to start off the season well," said Jacobs, who went to New Zealand for the Under-19 World Cup in 2002.

"My main goal is to enjoy the experience and help the team to do well and hopefully win the tournament. I've been doing consistently well in four-day cricket, but I need to concentrate on the one-dayers. It's a mindset thing and I need to work on my game plan for limited-overs. One-day cricket is simpler and a game plan is all you need, but I have a way to go," Jacobs said.

The South African side will play a total of three Twenty20 games and six one-day matches in Australia between July 10 and July 21.