South African all-rounder Chris Morris reveals that he nearly quit cricket

Chris Morris faced an injury stricken 2014

South African all-rounder Chris Morris revealed that being out of the side for almost a year due to injury and personal problems was a struggle mentally, The Citizen reports. The 28-year-old added that playing cricket was all he ever wanted to do and the motivation of playing for the national side helped him rediscover his love for the game.

“It has been a tough month and a half recently. A lot of hard work put in behind the scenes,” said Morris on Tuesday at a Proteas bowling session at SuperSport Park in Centurion.

Morris, who has been named in the T20 and ODI squad for the India tour, was out for a huge part of 2014 with an ankle injury while a groin problem further hampered his progress. The right-arm pacer played the first two ODIs against Bangladesh in July and finished with figures of 2/32 in 6.3 overs and then 0/29 in the second match. It was not the worst performances by any means, but Morris, a harsh critic of himself, felt otherwise.

“It has been a really tough journey. I’ve come back from a bad tour of Bangladesh that I don’t think I ever should have gone on. But I was never going to turn down an opportunity to play for my country. So it was a lot of mental stuff that went on behind the scenes,” he said.

Morris said that there was a time when he thought his career would be cut short due to the injuries he sustained.

“I had to find my reasoning for playing cricket again, I took a couple of days off, went to the bush, went hunting and found my passion again. It sounds horrible to say that as a young cricketer, but I had a lot of things going on in my head that needed to be sorted out and luckily we got them sorted. The injuries [now] are feeling good. I am 90 percent there and the other 10 percent is mental for me.”

Morris also went on to add that moving to the Titans from the Lions helped him reassess his career from a mental point of view.

“I don’t think I will ever want to give up cricket. When I’m 50 I still want to be playing the game. I don’t think I ever wanted to throw in the towel, I was just a little bit confused in my head as to why am I playing this game. What do I want to achieve out of the game and I think I almost lost sight of that a little bit because you are in a very dark space when you are injured. I never lost that desire to play cricket, it was just my reasoning.”

Morris revealed that it was the thought of putting on the South African jersey that always gives him the much-needed motivation.

“It was going back to the drawing board. When I was a youngster it was very easy to say why I wanted to play cricket and that was because I wanted to play for my country. And having coming back from that tour doing so badly, I thought maybe you are good enough to play for your country. I had a couple of dark days, but there is always motivation when you put that jersey on.”

Morris will fight for his place in the team

Morris will be competing with the likes of Kyle Abbott, Kagiso Rabada, Marchant de Lange and David Wiese for a single spot in the ODI & T20 side for the Proteas. Abbott looks a certainty following a string of impressive performances and Morris admitted that he has a proper fight on his hands to secure a place in the team.

“The pecking order I wouldn’t know. (But) I know there are a lot of gun bowlers pushing for that spot they say is missing in SA cricket,” he said.

Morris said that he is working hard on his all round skills so that he has a better opportunity to make it to the South African side but added that he is not averse to carrying drinks as well if he isn’t up to the mark.

“I am trying to be an all-rounder. I lost sight of my goals with batting recently. This is the hardest I have ever worked on my batting. I am hitting a lot of balls, I am doing a lot more drills which I absolutely hate, but we’ve got to do them. If my bowling is not up to standard on the day, hopefully, my batting will lift me, and if my batting is not up to standard, hopefully, my fielding will. If I am not a good fielder, I will carry the drinks as well,” Morris said.