Chris Morris confident of Test return for South Africa after tweaked action

Chris Morris is looking for a Test return for South Africa. (Reuters Photo)

Chris Morris is hoping for a return to the field during the Ram Slam, for the Titans, but with a change. After consulting coach Ottis Gibson, Morris has decided to tweak his action to make more smoother and avoid injuries. The all-rounder was looking for more speed but that caused the injury during the England series in May and he has been out of action since.

“I’ve had a few tweaks in my action that Ottis has changed. I had to iron it out because it wasn’t good enough – simple as that,” Morris was quoted as saying by ESPNcrcinfo in Johannesburg. “I think in striving for a bit of extra pace, there was some twisting in my action. I’ve got quite a bad kick-out with my left foot before I land. I was getting lazy and doing quite a lot of twisting, which caused a lot of pressure on my lower back and inevitably caused the injury.”

South Africa captain Faf du Plessis had given Morris the freedom to be aggressive on the England tour and though he thrived in that mode, it caused inflammation and strain in the muscles of the lower back which forced to leave the tour midway. It could have led to stress fracture and even now, Morris knows, they can re-appear.

“If I didn’t get injured I still would have had to change my action. In bowling, you like to work in straight lines, and I was working along the wrong lines. That’s where the injury came along,” he explained. “We can’t re-scan the same injury because we’d see the same thing the whole time. So we work on symptoms – if there is pain you stop, otherwise you play. I’ve got to trust the gym and rehab, all the things I’ve been doing behind the scenes since my injury happened.”

South Africa have had a severe fast bowling crisis as many as four other bowlers are also going rehabilitations. Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and Wayne Parnell are also out of action due to various injuries. While Philander is back playing First-Class cricket, the three others are expected to be play Ram Slam later. This means they will be available for the one-off Test against Zimbabwe beginning Boxing Day and later for the India series.

“It’s always good to know that the coach is backing the guys who aren’t playing, especially with injuries because that’s part of the game,” Morris said. “If a youngster is better than me he must play, it’s as simple as that, but I’m always going to be fighting for my spot because playing for South Africa is what I want to do. If I never play for South Africa again it’s cool, but I’m going to give it my best shot. I’m obviously champing at the bit. It hurt me quite a lot to see the guys running around this morning and playing soccer, so I’ve got quite a lot of motivation.”

“I’ve only had a week and a half with him and he’s been excellent. In England, he had the fortune of working with the best new-ball attack in the world in my opinion. If they’ve rubbed off on him, as a South African bowling attack we’re going to be richer for it,” Morris said. “He’s been doing this for a long time and has a lot of experience. It’s quite clear what our plans are going forward as a team. We’re in a happy space, and it’s quite exciting.”