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With fast bowlers Lance Morris and Jhye Richardson, Australia’s selectors are trying to make sure they can move past injury issues by looking at the long term.
Morris, the Western Australian fast who played in the Test squad and made his ODI debut against the West Indies last season, is undergoing further rehabilitation after suffering a stress fracture to his back that kept him out of action during the winter. It is a recurrence of what transpired following his exclusion from the Ashes tour in 2022–2023 season.
Morris’s summer was cut short after he sustained a side strain during his second ODI outing. Prior to post-season scans revealing a hot spot in his back, he was scheduled to play for the Seattle Orcas in Major League Cricket. As a result, he was not selected for the Scotland and England trip.
“Lance is still working through his return to play and getting himself right recovering from that stress fracture of the back,” national selector George Bailey said. “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.”
After another interrupted domestic season in which he suffered a side strain during the BBL after being called up to the ODI squad, Richardson—who Bailey describes as “fit and firing”—made one appearance for the Delhi Capitals in the 2024 Indian Premier League. In the middle of 2022, he made his Australian debut against Sri Lanka.
Earlier this year, Cricket Australia awarded central contracts to both Morris and Richardson.
“Jhye is in a similar boat,” Bailey said. “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.”