When the bustling, big-hitting allrounder became a rarity on the South African cricket landscape, Chris Morris showed the species was not as endangered as once thought. The son of a former Northern Transvaal first-class cricketer Willie, Morris was a bit of a late bloomer but his eventual flowering was worth the wait.

A pacy opening bowler, Morris often sends the speed gun beyond 140kph. Apart from speed, his accuracy with the ball and fearless lower-order ability with the bat resulted in enough performances of note to earn him a national call-up before he had even played a full season of first-class cricket.

After finishing the 2011-12 season as the leading wicket-taker in the domestic 20-over competition, with 21 scalps at 12.66, Morris was picked in an experimental South African side to play a T20 tri-series in Zimbabwe. He was in the presence of his childhood hero Allan Donald, and used the experience as a learning one more than anything else.

The knowledge he gained from that showed in the 2012 Champions League T20, where Morris combined with the likes of Sohail Tanvir and Dirk Nannes to provide a powerful seam attack for the Johannesburg-based Lions franchise. They reached the final of the competition and although they lost, Morris made an impression.

On the basis of that tournament, he was one of the big buys of IPL and went to Chennai Super Kings for a US$650,000. At the time, Morris remarked that he had "never seen so much money". By then, he had already played for South Africa in T20Is against New Zealand and Pakistan.

But limited-overs is not his speciality. Morris had a promising 2010-11 first-class season where he averaged over 60 with the bat, albeit in the provincial, not franchise division, in South Africa. He also led the Lions' charge in the 2012-13 Sunfoil Series and finished with 32 wickets at 16.00, which included bowling them to a crucial victory over the Dolphins at the Wanderers.
Firdose Moonda