Western Australia speedster Lance Morris is upbeat about his chances to debut in the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy starting on February 9.
With Mitchell Starc nursing an injury and ruled out of the first Test, it is highly likely more that Morris will be seen wearing the baggy green.
Morris has been Starc’s understudy and was in Australia’s Test squad during their recent series win over South Africa.
But who is Lance Morris?
Well, he is one of the fastest and most exciting fast bowling prospects in Australia today.
He earned the nickname, ‘Wild Thing’ after he had moved to the Western Australian capital as a raw teenager who bowled at frightening pace.
By the 2022-23 summer, the right-armer was considered one of the fastest bowlers in the country and earnt a call-up to Australia’s Test side.
This was a reward for having taken more wickets than any other bowler at the halfway point of that season’s Shield competition.Â
The 24-year-old tearaway pacer has the ability to rack up deliveries at 150-plus kmph.
He bagged 12 wickets from five games in his first season. Thereafter, he played every match of WA’s drought-breaking Shield title-winning campaign last summer and had 20 scalps.
Morris has added 27 more wickets to his tally from five matches so far this season.
Morris, who has refined his bowling action with the help of former WA bowling coach Matt Mason, had earlier said he is still coming to grips with it all.
“They see me as a strike bowler and I’m probably that replacement for someone like Mitchell Starc who’s bowling fast and intimidating,” he told cricket.com.au.
“It sounds funny when I say it like that, because I can’t believe we’re actually in the same sentence to be honest.
“It’s been a bit of a weird couple of weeks training and staying as ready as possible, knowing that it could happen at some point,” he added.
“It’s my first overseas tour in a cricketing sense, so it will be a huge learning experience for me. I’m really excited to go away.”
“I’m going to do everything I can to be as ready as possible,” the West Australian was quoted as saying.
Morris is currently representing Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash League.
The entire squad
Pat Cummins (captain), Josh Hazlewood, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw.
