Forgotten quick Morris 'back to that game intensity' after lengthy lay-off

After a very long injury lay-off where he felt "down in the dumps" at times, Lance Morris has become the forgotten quick in Australian cricket. But if his body can hold up, Morris looms as an intriguing figure amid an inevitable transition for Australia's ageing Test attack.

Morris, 28, missed the entire 2025-26 season after following in the footsteps of Cameron Green and undergoing pars stabilisation surgery to address an ongoing lumbar bone-stress injury.

He slowly returned to full fitness through the off-season, and was set to be unleashed at the start of the Australian domestic season until suffering a side strain that ruled him out for almost two months.

Morris finally made his return on Sunday in a T20 match in local Western Australia Premier Cricket, where he took 2 for 14 off four overs for club side Scarborough. He will further ramp up on Saturday for a Western Australia (WA) side taking on England, who will launch their white-ball tour of Australia with a one-day warm-up match at the WACA.

"I'm really excited. I think it's been the longest pre-season I've ever had, so I'm feeling really fit," Morris said on Wednesday. "It was good to get a game in for the local cricket club over the weekend and let a few go, so it was awesome."

Morris has not played top-flight cricket since a Sheffield Shield match in March 2025, where he took career best first-class figures of 5 for 26 in 20.3 overs against New South Wales at the WACA.

At the time, Morris was on the fringes of Australia's teams across formats, having played three ODIs in 2024, and also became a regular Test squad member. Dubbed "The Wild Thing" in a nod to former tearaway Shaun Tait, Morris had garnered considerable attention for his ability to bowl over 150kph.

"I got to a point where essentially I had to have 12 months off cricket. It was either 12 months of pure rest and hoping that it heals naturally or address it with this surgical intervention and hopefully put it behind me for good. It was certainly tough at times"

Lance Morris on his time away from action

Regarded as arguably the fastest bowler in Australia, he became an enforcer for WA on bouncy WACA surfaces, but a frustrating injury run stopped him in his tracks. Before undergoing surgery, the management of his back issue had been a source of debate between Morris, Cricket Australia and WA. Earlier this year, Morris lost the CA contract he had held since 2023.

"I got to a point where essentially I had to have 12 months off cricket," Morris said. "It was either 12 months of pure rest and hoping that it heals naturally or address it with this surgical intervention and hopefully put it behind me for good.

"It was certainly tough at times. More recently, there were a few sessions there where I'd rock up to training and feel pretty average when I was bowling. [I] was [feeling] pretty down in the dumps. I feel really good at the moment, and I think I've pushed through a bit of a threshold and got back to that game intensity that we were looking for."

A fit and firing Morris will be music to the ears of national selectors, with fast-bowling depth vitally important as Australia's attack is on the cusp of a significant transition. Mitchell Starc turns 37 in January, Josh Hazlewood will be 36 in the same month, and skipper Pat Cummins turns 34 next May. Back-up seamer Scott Boland is 37, while Michael Neser, who was on the South Africa tour, is 36.

"I think it's easy to sort of cast your eyes that far ahead and have goals to play for Australia," Morris said. "But I think, at the moment, it's just one step in front of the other and getting through a couple of games unscathed. Then see where we get to."

Given his long lay-off, Morris has been overtaken in the national discussion, with attention turning to several other quicks. Jhye Richardson, who has overcome his own horror run of injuries, has started the Shield season in spectacular fashion, while youngster Mahli Beardman's rising status was confirmed when he was named in Australia's white-ball squads against England.

While Richardson will be rested for Saturday's hit-out against England, tipped to attract a lively crowd of 4500 at the revamped WACA, Morris and Beardman, 21, are set to spearhead a hostile pace attack that hopes England will be in for a torrid start to their tour.

"He's obviously got a great reputation already, and he deserves it," Morris said of Beardman, who made his international debut in a T20I in Pakistan earlier this year. "He's a star in the making, and I think he's got all the attributes to not only be an incredible white-ball cricketer, but also multi-format.

"It's exciting to come up against an amazing team in England; you just look at the star power that they bring over with them. It's a big game, fingers crossed we can give them a bit of a shake."