Million man Morris is back with a bang
Whenever the lanky all-rounder enters a player auction or draft, you can be sure he's going to fetch the magical six-figure mark.
Chris Morris of the Nelson Mandela Bay Giants during the Mzansi Super League Player Draft at The Ballroom, Montecasino on October 17, 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images)
All-rounder Chris Morris, together with Farhaan Behardien and Dwaine Pretorius, will make his return to the Proteas team for their limited-overs tour of Australia, for which they leave next week.
Together with being the first non-marquee draft pick for the Mzansi Super League, it was all-in-all a wonderful day for Morris, who was out for five months with a lower back injury suffered in the IPL and missed the series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.
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“The back is gold, I’ve played two four-day matches for the Titans and bowled a lot of overs, and I feel I’ve done quite nicely. I worked hard to get back and I did get a bit itchy watching the guys play. It’s a special feeling to be the first draft pick and also very big for me to be back for the Proteas, to go on tour of Australia for the first time will be very special.
“Ottis Gibson [Proteas coach] had one message for me and that was basically just to stay fit, the selectors know what I can do. I like to think that, at my best, I can make the side every time, but I still feel like I’ve under-performed a bit, I’ve only given glimpses at international level. And of course the World Cup is in the back of my head, but I have to play well for the Proteas and that will take care of itself,” Morris said at the Mzansi Super League draft.
Morris is hot property in the shortest form of the game.
He fetched over a million dollars during IPL auctions and was once again sought after locally.
Behardien and Pretorius can both thank untimely injuries for their recalls.
JP Duminy has to have surgery on a shoulder injury, opening up a middle-order spot and Behardien has the experience of 59 ODIs and the ability to both build and finish innings to successfully fulfil Duminy’s batting role.
Wiaan Mulder is unavailable due to an ankle injury and his Highveld Lions team-mate Dwaine Pretorius takes his place.
They are similar cricketers in terms of their roles, and Pretorius also bowls with good variations and has done well in his 12 ODIs thus far, scoring one half-century in his five innings and batting at a strike-rate of 107, while he has taken 17 wickets at an average of 27.11 and an economy rate of just 4.88.
Hashim Amla is also still injured and Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen and Aiden Markram all have another chance to impress and seal their place in the World Cup batting line-up.
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