Chris Morris has been among the most improved cricketers of 2016. The towering all-rounder has been exceptional with the ball so far in the ongoing tri-series and he continues to grow with every outing in the middle. Morris has worked profusely hard on his bowling as he constantly hits the right areas now and his pace has been quite impressive as well.
Ahead of South Africa’s game against Australia at Barbados, Morris stated that he was inspired by the bowling style of Indian legend Zaheer Khan in the IPL. Khan and Morris shared a decent rapport in the IPL as both the pacers were instrumental in the success achieved by Delhi Daredevils.
“I had a little bit missing in my action just before the World T20. I was sliding a lot of balls down the leg side so I did a little bit of technical work on that,” Morris said. “And then, just watching the way Zaheer thought, how his brain patterns were when he was bowling. It was about keeping a lot calmer and focusing on what I needed to do with the ball and my action at the time. I did a little bit of work with him but it was more of a mental shift for me,” all rounder added.
Batting has been an added incentive for Morris, who was recently promoted to number 3 against the West Indies. Addressing questions about his batting, Morris said, “I’m a first-change bowler. That’s my role in the team. It’s quite a specific role because we’ve got a lot of plans put in place for certain batsmen,” Morris said. “It’s a role that I quite enjoy – it’s a difficult one but I like taking it on the chin and just going with it.”
Stating on the need of adapting quickly to Barbados, Morris said, “It’s vital to adopt early doors. The sooner you adapt, the more you can control what’s going on but I am looking forward to bowling on it and maybe getting some extra pace and bounce.”