Morris will give it a full go
Fit-again all-rounder not interested in Kolpak deal, wants to play for Proteas... or Titans
CHRIS MORRIS has a penchant for “misplacing” important things, like when he arrived in the United Kingdom for the ICC Champions Trophy without any shoes or lost his passport days before he flew off to join the Indian Premier League for the first time.
Those who know him intimately convince themselves that it’s all part of the “Morris charm”. However, having to put up with this degree of negligence, for the best part of six months on a daily basis will test even the most patient of souls.
Morris’s family would have breathed a sigh of relief then that he was at least allowed out on the golf course while he was recovering from a long-term knee injury that kept him out of competitive cricket since last July.
“I played a lot of golf. That was my first question to our physio. ‘Can I play golf ?’ and he said: ‘If an 80-yearold can play golf, then I think you can play golf ’.
“That was my saving grace as it kept the handeye co-ordination intact,” Morris (pictured) said in response to how he spent his time away from the game.
“But I think the wonderful thing about the game is that it finds a way for you to miss the game. I can confidently say that after about six weeks I was missing the game horribly.”
Morris’s effervescent personality would certainly have been pushing him hard on the inside to return sooner than he actually did. But the 29-year-old was in severe pain, often causing him to wake up during the night in a cold sweat. And he only played his first competitive cricket match a fortnight ago when the Titans faced the Highveld Lions in a Sunfoil Series clash in Benoni.
Morris did not set the world alight, scoring 39 and claiming five wickets in the match, but more importantly he had emerged pain-free coming through the four-day fixture “unscathed”.
“I bowled 40 overs, welcome back Morris,” the all-rounder chirped.
The fact that Morris got through such a workload in his comeback match was enough to convince the national selectors that he was ready for an international recall and was immediately included in the One-Day Squad for the Sri Lankan series that gets under way in Port Elizabeth tomorrow.
This will certainly be an important series on Morris’s road to full recovery.
While he was becoming better acquainted with the Highveld’s finest fairways during his recovery period, there were a couple of young all-rounders impressively filling the breach.
Former Lions teammate Dwaine Pretorius put in a couple of solid performances, while Dolphins starlet Andile Phehlukwayo was outstanding during the 5-0 whitewash of Australia in South Africa’s last ODI series.
Throw the enigmatic Wayne Parnell into the mix and suddenly an area that South Africa were ailing in after Jacques Kallis’s retirement has become a strength again where there is healthy competition for places.
Coach Russell Domingo has already publicly emphasised that the upcoming series against the Sri Lankans and the subsequent New Zealand ODI series will have a huge bearing on which all-rounders the Proteas take to the ICC Champions Trophy in England later this year.
Selection for the global showpiece would be extra special for Morris as his international career would have come full circle – his ODI debut in the same tournament four years ago against Pakistan in Birmingham. “It will be nice to be in the Champions Trophy squad, but if it’s not my time, it’s not my time,” Morris said philosophically.
“I just want to play cricket. If I’m not selected for the Proteas, I will play for the Titans.”
In Morris’s own words “there has been a lot of noise around Kolpaks” and there is no doubt the fear that taking into account his age and his current standing in the national team across all three formats that he could be a potential target to continue a career in England should national selection not be forthcoming.
However, the son of former Northern Transvaal all-rounder Willie Morris, is not entertaining thoughts of an English county career and is committed to winning back his starting place in the Proteas team.
“There has been a lot of noise about Kolpak everywhere. I don’t think it’s just hampered me, I think it’s hampered a few people.
“I had a good sit down with our coach, Mark Boucher, in terms of the Kolpak situation. There weren’t any offers on the table, just a lot of noise around it,” Morris explained.
“I’ve committed to Cricket South Africa. I’ve told the selectors, Errol Stewart, that I want to play cricket for my country and have committed to CSA.
“I am going to give it a full go and if I don’t play more than I have already, then that’s my fate, but at least I can say I’ve done my best to get there.”
Domingo will certainly be listening closely to these words and will keep them at the back of his mind when teams are to be selected.
It’s now just up to South Africa’s “Million Dollar Man” to re-discover that Midas touch that made him such a hit in limited-overs cricket 12 months ago.
St George’s Park will be a handy place to start tomorrow. – Zaahier Adams
Fixtures 1st ODI: January 28, Port Elizabeth 2nd ODI: February 1, Durban 3rd ODI: February 4, Johannesburg 4th ODI: February 7, Cape Town 5th ODI: February 10, Centurion
Squads:
South Africa (first three matches): AB de Villiers (captain), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock (wkt), JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Chris Morris, Wayne Parnell, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi.
Sri Lanka: Upul Tharanga (captain), Dinesh Chandimal (wkt), Chaturanga de Silva, Dhananjaya de Silva, Thikshila de Silva, Niroshan Dickwella, Asela Gunaratne, Nuwan Kulasekara, Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Madushanka, Kusal Mendis, Sachith Pathirana, Seekkuge Prasanna, Lakshan Sandakan, Isuru Udana, Sandun Weerakkody.