(AP/AFP Photo)
Australia selector George Bailey has set his sights on nurturing pacers Lance Morris and Jhye Richardson for the long haul, despite their absence from the upcoming white-ball tour of the UK. Both players secured Cricket Australia central contracts earlier this year.
Morris, unfortunately, faced setbacks during the winter season due to a stress fracture in his back, which has required ongoing rehabilitation. This injury has resurfaced from his previous exclusion during the 2022–2023 Ashes tour. Earlier, a side strain had also disrupted his summer, initially affecting his plans to play for Seattle Orcas in Major League Cricket. Subsequent scans revealed a hot spot in his back, contributing to his omission from the Scotland and England tour.
“Lance is still working through his return to play and getting himself right recovering from that stress fracture of the back,” ESPNcricinfo quoted national selector George Bailey as saying. “Know he’s progressing well, he’s feeling good, he’s starting to get to that point where he wants some cricket and think he’s going to get a hell of a lot of it over the summer and that will be really exciting to see him back.
“Felt a little bit like with him, that we wanted to set him up for success in the long term as opposed to pushing that too early then potentially risking what we think is something that could be really exciting across this summer and beyond,” he added.
Conversely, according to Bailey, Richardson is currently in excellent form and condition, having overcome interruptions during his time in the Indian Premier League and the domestic season caused by a side strain. His last appearance for Australia was in mid-2022 against Sri Lanka.
“Jhye is in a similar boat. He’s fit and firing now, and again looking for match opportunities. I think he’ll get opportunities again across the summer. For both [him and Morris] I think it’s getting through the season fit and then hopefully maximising the amount of cricket they play. Some of that will be domestic, hopefully, there will be some international opportunities [and] Australia A opportunities, then I think we set them up for success in the long term,” he said.
Australia’s national selector also highlighted the formidable presence of the pace trio comprising Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood, alongside Scott Boland, who has been making significant strides with impressive performances in Test cricket.
“As far as the fast bowling group goes, think we’ve got a pretty exciting bunch there that we haven’t had the opportunity to get a lot of games into across the formats predominantly because we’ve had a highly successful and robust senior group of fast bowlers,” Bailey said.
“Clearly some of the decisions made around this series is around priortising and getting guys right for what will be a really big summer and for some guys this is an opportunity to get a little bit more work into what they are going to need to be ready for that,” he concluded.
