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Opener gives Bangladesh another injury concern ahead of opening World Cup fixture against South Africa

ESPNcricinfo staff31-May-2019Tamim Iqbal has given Bangladesh another injury concern ahead of Sunday’s opening World Cup fixture against South Africa at The Oval, after being struck a blow on the left wrist while batting in the nets.Tamim left the field immediately after the incident to be assessed by the Bangladesh team physio, and went for a precautionary X-ray. Although no fracture was detected*, the bruising and swelling could still make him a doubt to play.”It’s too early to say anything specific but we will have an X-ray and if there is a fracture, then he won’t be available,” selector Habibul Bashar said before the results were kn. “But if that is not the case, then we can hope he will be available for the opening game.”The loss of Tamim would be a grievous one for Bangladesh. The opener has been the bedrock of their batting since the 2007 World Cup, and has been in superb form in all formats in recent series, including a brace of half-centuries en route to their tri-series ODI win in Ireland earlier this month.What is more, his aggressive batting style is particularly suited to English conditions, where he averages 50.71 in seven ODIs (and 67.00 in Tests), including scores of 128 and 95 in his first two matches of the Champions Trophy in 2017.Bangladesh are also monitoring the fitness of Mohammad Saifuddin, who is recovering from a back problem, along with Mashrafe Mortaza (hamstring), Mustafizur Rahman (calf) and Mahmudullah (shoulder). Shakib Al Hasan suffered a back spasm recently but is expected to be back to full fitness.*1900 BST – This story was updated with X-ray results

Rumana Ahmed and Fargana Hoque add 72 to keep Bangladesh in the hunt before Shabnim Ismail knocks them over to close out the game

ESPNcricinfo staff17-May-2018
Scorecard
Shabnim Ismail is congratulated on the wicket of Hayley Matthews•Getty Images

Seamer Shabnim Ismail’s three-for and opener Lizelle Lee’s 38-ball 46 helped South Africa beat Bangladesh by 17 runs and go 1-0 up in the three-match T20I series.Having elected to bat at the Diamond Oval in Kimberley, South Africa openers Lee and Laura Wolvaardt put together 77 by the 10th over. Wolvaardt’s wicket, however, sent them sliding as spinners Rumana Ahmed and Khadija Tul Kubra ran through the top order to pick up four wickets in the space of 20 deliveries.Sune Luus steered them to safety, making an unbeaten 28 off just 23 balls from No. 7 to lift them from 86 for 5 in the 13th over to 127 for 6 at the end of 20 overs.Bangladesh slipped to 14 for 2 in the fifth over, and from there on, South Africa didn’t look back. Ahmed and Fargana Hoque put together 72 off just 68 balls for the third wicket to keep Bangladesh in the hunt, before Ismail returned to rattle the middle order. She had Rumana caught by Mignon du Preez for 36 and then sent Nigar Sultana back for a first-ball duck to stifle them.Bangladesh needed 32 off two overs, but tight overs from Kapp and Ismail closed out the game.

Ryan ten Doeschate’s first hundred of the season put Essex in a good position after another day of heavy run scoring against Surrey at Guildford

ECB Reporters Network10-Jun-2017
ScorecardRyan ten Doeschate’s first hundred of the season put Essex in a good position after another day of heavy run scoring against Surrey at Guildford.The Essex captain has struggled to recapture the form he showed last season when he scored 1,226 runs with four centuries, but he finished unbeaten on 120 with Essex 367 for 7 in reply to Surrey’s 399.He came in when his side were in a spot of bother. Surrey skipper Gareth Batty had taken two quick wickets to reduce Essex to 134 for 4, but Ravi Bopara helped ten Doeschate rebuild the innings with a stand of 120 in 27 overs, of which Bopara contributed 64, his first half-century of the season.Ten Doeschate had a life on 37 when wicketkeeper Ben Foakes put down a difficult chance down the leg side but grew in confidence as he built his innings, playing authoritative shots on both sides of the wicket. A leg glance off Stuart Meaker took him to his hundred, off 120 balls, and by stumps he had faced 144 balls and hit a six and 18 fours.Surrey’s attack stuck to their task throughout and there were moments in the day when they looked to be in control. Sam Curran had Alastair Cook lbw with a touch of late inswing on the stroke of lunch and after Tom Westley was squared up by Mark Footitt, Batty struck twice with Nick Browne lbw working to leg and Dan Lawrence cutting straight to point.But Bopara and ten Doeschate took advantage of quick-scoring conditions to build a useful partnership which ended when Stuart Meaker returned to the attack and found a touch of reverse swing to pin Bopara, offering no shot, having hit nine fours and two sixes.Footitt returned to pick up James Foster and Simon Harmer but Neil Wagner helped ten Doeschate add 41 for the eighth wicket on a day when 413 runs were scored.Earlier, Mark Stoneman completed a career-best 197 but just missed out on a maiden double hundred. The left-hander resumed on 181 and scored the seven he needed to take him past his previous best, made for former county Durham against Middlesex in 2014.Ryan ten Doeschate’s hundred rallied Essex•Getty Images

Essex wicketkeeper Foster dived in front of slip to take the edge after Stoneman made his first mistake, driving outside off stump at a delivery from Wagner he could have ignored. He faced 248 balls and hit two sixes and 26 fours.Batty drove to point off Bopara before Jamie Porter switched ends to finish the innings when he picked up Ravi Rampaul and Footitt in five balls as Surrey lost their last four wickets in four overs for seven runs.

The Australia fast bowler will play his first Sheffield Shield match in nearly six years and says he wants to play with no restrictions and without having to worry about his fitness

Daniel Brettig06-Mar-20171:39

Playing Shield cricket one of my goals for the year – Cummins

Pat Cummins will officially return to contention for a place in Australia’s Ashes team for next summer when he plays his first Sheffield Shield match in almost six years, for New South Wales against South Australia at the SCG from Tuesday.Cummins made his state debut at 17 and his Test debut later that year, before a series of foot and back injuries prompted the national selectors and Cricket Australia’s medical staff to drastically alter their plans for him.Now 23, Cummins’ body is approaching a point of maturity that is hoped will reduce his risk of injuries, after the fashion of the incumbent Test bowlers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. As such, he is now in line to play in the Shield for the Blues and possibly Australia A in South Africa later this year ahead of next summer’s home Ashes series.”There’s the Ashes, which is a goal for probably everyone playing Shield cricket this year at the moment,” Cummins told reporters in Sydney. “I think for me getting back into first-class cricket was the No.1 goal for the year and I’m absolutely pumped to be back. I think if I get through these games then hopefully next year I can start off the year just like any other cricketer.”Cummins’ bowling action has gone through numerous adjustments over time, while his range of skills and experiences have broadened to add to his capabilities this week. While Cummins always demonstrated exceptional intelligence for a fast bowler, as evidenced by his memorable display against South Africa at the Wanderers on his 2011 Test debut, it has taken time for his body to catch up to his mind.”Probably given the extra week that we waited after the T20s has just given me a chance to prepare for the game once I got back in the frame for playing Shield cricket,” Cummins said. “I just wanted to go in [to Shield cricket] with no restrictions and not have to think about my body really, so all good.”I feel like I’m a lot more consistent now than I probably was a couple of years ago, and I think that’s put down to a few things. I think having a long pre-season, I was able to just work on quite a consistent rhythm and tempo rather than trying to bowl 180kms every ball.”I think the beauty of red-ball cricket is the ball normally swings out here [in Sydney]. After some rain hopefully it might seam around a little bit so actually bowling within yourself that 5 or 10% can actually provide some better results. Pace is one tool a bowler uses, but it’s not the be-all and end-all.”NSW have also added the English wristspinner Mason Crane to their squad for the match after a series of stand-out performances in Sydney grade cricket. However, the same overcast and damp weather that may aid Cummins to swing the ball may work against Crane’s chances of a Shield debut as the second spinner behind Will Somerville’s off-breaks.The Blues need to win both their remaining matches outright to have a chance of making the Shield final, while their opponents South Australia are in second place and can solidify their own chances with victory at the SCG.

Azhar Ali has called Pakistan’s final ODI against England a “must-win game” as the pressure on his captaincy mounts after just six months in the job

Alan Gardner19-Nov-2015Azhar Ali has called Pakistan’s final ODI against England a “must-win game” as the pressure on his captaincy mounts after just six months in the job. Pakistan have twice been beaten heavily after going 1-0 up in the series and can now only manage a tie at best.In both Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, Pakistan struggled in particular with the bat. Azhar has only managed 66 runs in three innings at the top of the order and changes to the line-up – partly enforced by the sudden retirement of Younis Khan – have not helped. With Pakistan ranked a lowly No. 8 in ODIs, some commentators at home have turned their fire on the coach, Waqar Younis, despite the team’s recent success in Tests.”It’s a must-win game for us,” Azhar said of the fourth ODI in Dubai. “It won’t be easy because England played well in the last two games and won, but we all realise the importance of this game, we will do our hardest work to win the game and I am confident that if we play to our ability then we can definitely win this game and level the series.”Pakistan narrowly avoided missing out on a place at the 2017 Champions Trophy earlier this year, winning series against Zimbabwe (twice) and Sri Lanka to stay above West Indies in the rankings. But their indifferent form could jeopardise automatic qualification for the 2019 World Cup.”Pressure is always there in every series and different pressures – we had the pressure of qualifying for the Champions Trophy when we were playing against Sri Lanka but then the players responded very well,” Azhar said. “So there is pressure and since it’s a must-win game, you take that as positive and focus on cricket, if you use all your abilities then there is no doubt you can do it.”Following the World Cup and Misbah-ul-Haq’s retirement, Azhar was recalled to the ODI side after a two-year absence to take up the captaincy. His tenure began with a first-ever series defeat to Bangladesh but results had been improving until back-to-back losses against England.Asked about his future in the role was at stake, he said: “Things which are not in your control, you can’t control so I think the best thing is to focus on what you have in your hand. I don’t have any fear of losing anything. Do the job honestly and no one in the team has that fear and will accept whatever the outcome is.”A loss of form with the bat has also come at an unfortunate time for Azhar. Having marked his ODI return with two hundreds in his first five matches as captain, he has now gone eight innings without reaching 50, either side of a short lay-off caused by an infected toe.”I scored a lot of runs when I started as captain, but sometimes you don’t score runs. I am trying my best and was feeling well in the last game, middling the ball well so hopefully I will do that again in the next game and convert the good start. When I go in I don’t take any pressure when I am batting.”His innings of 36 in the Sharjah ODI was curtailed by a run-out, one of three in the match that undermined Pakistan’s hopes of setting a more testing target. Azhar has been run out five times in ODIs this year, as well as once in Tests – five of which involved Mohammad Hafeez – and he admitted it was something Pakistan needed to work on.”Obviously you don’t want run-outs but sometimes it happens,” he said, “it was one of those days the calling was not good, three main batsmen got run outs and that is an area of concern. But it’s not a big problem that we cannot solve, I think it’s about focus and putting your mind into it.”He added that the batsmen had discussed the collapse that saw Pakistan go from 132 for 2 to 161 for 8. “I think all of us were hurt, we were in a position to score big and on that the kind of pitch it wasn’t easy to chase. At that time 208 looked good and had we taken one or two more wickets then the match could have been in our favour.”When it happens like this we discuss everything, obviously it’s part of the game but we were hurt because it was in our hands, so we need to take full advantage and achieve the best. The message was that we should score the maximum runs.”There was some good news for Azhar to contemplate on the eve of the match, with the suggestion that Yasir Shah could be available again after a knee injury kept him out in Sharjah.”Yasir, we will see his fitness today, how it goes, hopefully he is fit,” he said. “He is feeling better, and we want to assess whether he can survive the 50 overs, you can’t survive in a 50-overs game half fit, so we have to assess him. We will look at the pitch and then decide what combination we play.”

Twelve teams could contest the 2015 World Cup as the ICC is considering a compromise between the 14 teams of 2011 and a tight 10-team model currently on the table

Daniel Brettig and Nagraj Gollapudi04-Apr-2011Twelve teams may contest the 2015 World Cup as the ICC is considering a compromise between the 14 teams of 2011 and a tight 10-team model currently on the table for the tournament’s next edition.The ICC’s executive council is meeting in Mumbai on Monday and on the agenda is the format for the next World Cup, to be hosted by Australia and New Zealand, following the rousing success of this year’s edition, which was won by India.Following much discussion of the 10-team tournament favoured by organisers, and an outcry by Associate nations given their likely exclusion, the ICC may now be leaning towards a 12-team event, possibly with two pools of six teams followed by quarter-finals, semis and the final.”At the moment it is still 10 teams but we are discussing the 12-team option,” an ICC official told ESPNcricinfo.The same format was used in the 1996 tournament, co-hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and won by the Sri Lankans. Another path is to choose a round-robin model where each team plays each other once before the semi-finals, as was the case when Australia and New Zealand hosted in 1992.Prior to his team’s departure for Bangladesh, new Australian captain Michael Clarke reiterated the desire of most international players to see Associate nations given their chance on the limited-overs game’s biggest stage.”I really enjoy seeing the minnow teams getting an opportunity to be honest, I guess it’s up to the ICC to work out whatever they think is for the betterment of the game, that’s obviously their priority,” Clarke said in Sydney.”For me I think the two World Cups I’ve been involved in have been fantastic, it certainly does feel between games like you have a long period, when you’ve got six and seven days between games, but I’ve enjoyed seeing some of the minnow teams or all of the minnow teams play.”I think we’ve seen throughout this World Cup that there were a few upsets and some great cricket played, so I just hope and am certain that the ICC are looking to improve the game of cricket.”Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, said the executive council meeting would finalise much of the discussions surrounding the next event, plans for which are already being mapped out by the Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket.”The length of 50 overs will find certain teams out but I think there are 10 teams that can seriously compete in that format,” Lorgat told Sky Sports News. “That’s a debate we are still finalising; in fact the board meeting over the next two days will consider that and will determine which teams will play in the 2015 World Cup.”Ireland were the best Associate nation at each of the past two tournaments, and their chief executive Warren Deutrom had said the deferral of a decision on the tournament format until after the 2011 event was a sensible one.”I think that is the right decision,” Deutrom said. “What it does is allow the ICC board to make a decision based on all the evidence, rather than no evidence whatsoever. We are pleased because if two or three teams do perform well during the group stages, that does provide an option to look favourably on qualification, and to see if the number of teams is quite right.”

Katherine Brunt played a major role in England’s one-day series triumph over New Zealand, contributing with both bat and ball at crucial times

Cricinfo staff18-Jul-2010Katherine Brunt played a major role in England’s one-day series triumph over New Zealand, striking the winning boundary in a tense, one-wicket win in the first match at Taunton, and picking up three cheap wickets to help restrict the visitors to a gettable total infront of her home crowd at Barnsley in Saturday’s series-sealing nine-wicket victory.”It’s been a hard summer trying to find my form,” she told ecb.co.uk. “I’m carrying a few niggles but I’ve stayed strong but the conditions and pitches haven’t suited my bowling until today. I’ve really had to work hard at bowling immaculate lines and lengths, which is all you can bowl on pitches like at Taunton.”I’ve worked hard and so has everyone else, and we’re all just hitting our straps now and putting in some really good performances. The batters had to dig really deep and Sarah Taylor and Claire Taylor played really, really well.” Sarah and Claire Taylor shared in an unbeaten 98-run stand on Saturday, Claire reaching a half-century which included six fours and a six, and Sarah anchoring the innings with 49 not out.”We’ve had a lot of rain here so it turned out to be a good seamer’s track,” added Brunt. “It turned quite a lot as well so it was always the bowlers’ day – for the first time in quite a while.”Brunt suggested that New Zealand captain Aimee Watkins’ decision to bat first was a tactical error in bowler-friendly conditions, and highlighted the value of knowledge of conditions at the ground. “That just goes to show that we know the local weather and how the pitch has always played,” she explained. “I guess that helps – me being a Yorkshire girl, a local girl, to help them out with that – so we were fortunate to have that edge.”Brunt lauded Barnsley Cricket Club’s efforts in staging the first international match at the ground, which will hold special memories for her after her dominant performance with the ball helped England bounce back after their disappointment in the Twenty20s, which New Zealand won 2-1, with several members of her family in the crowd.”I managed to reserve 25 tickets for my family – cousins, aunties and uncles – so I’m really glad they could make it and see what I do and how much I enjoy playing cricket for my country. It’s fantastic to be able to have a one-day international here. I never thought that was possible, but Barnsley Cricket Club has come a long way.”They’ve built a a new pavilion and they’ve got a new scorebox, which is brilliant. They’re done a really great job today hosting and hopefully there’ll be some more in the future.”

Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain, has said his team’s victory in the Chappell-Hadlee trophy, was a fitting response to the 3-0 defeat inflicted by New Zealand two years ago

Cricinfo staff11-Mar-2010Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain, has said his team’s victory in the Chappell-Hadlee trophy, was a fitting response to the 3-0 defeat inflicted by New Zealand two years ago. The hosts, then, had won the first game comfortably by ten wickets before going on to chase 300-plus targets in the next two.”It doesn’t matter how many series you play but you always remember the last series you played, especially if it’s a losing one,” Ponting, who didn’t play in that series, said. “That was just before the World Cup, and we were throroughly outplayed in that series and it led to people to write us off. We regrouped pretty well over there and obviously played well, and we’ve regrouped very well since we’ve been here.”Australia scaled down their revised target of 200 in 34 overs with almost three overs to spare, but the bulk of the hard work had been done by their bowlers, who hit back to bowl the hosts out for 238 after their openers had delivered a fiery start. Ponting, acknowledging the importance of change bowlers, lauded the performance of James Hopes and Nathan Hauritz, who shared five wickets to cripple the middle order and help consign New Zealand to a below-par score.”I think that’s pretty important out here,” Ponting said. “On this sort of ground, the new ball flies off the wicket and off the bat at a pretty good pace. And that’s what they [the New Zealand openers] did particularly well today, using the pace of our new ball bowlers really well, hit the boundaries and got the momentum going their way.”Then when Hauritz and Hopes came into the game, it was a lot harder to score. It was harder to hit those boundaries, we restricted them, took those boundaries away and created chances which we took. We got on a bit of a roll then, the momentum was in our favour.”Australia won their third consecutive game of the series to clinch the trophy, and Ponting, who led his team to its eighth successive ODI series win, said the turnaround, after the defeat in the first game, was a result of attacking cricket. The hosts have been bowled out in each of the last three games.”New Zealand got off to good starts in every game, it’s sometimes hard to reverse momentum in one-day games but we’ve been able to do that really well,” he said. “They got off to a fine start, we weren’t very good with the ball early on, so we just kept attacking and set attacking fields. We told the bowlers to keep hitting the areas and if they continued to play the big shots, we’ll take our chances and that’s how it worked out.”If you hit your spot and you challenge the batsmen to play big shots, or take risks to hit boundaries, then you have half a chance. The brand new ball didn’t do that today, we gave them too many soft balls to hit to the boundary and once we tightened things up a bit and challenged them, that’s when we were in the game a bit more.”Our fielding, too, has improved throughout the series and once you’ve put them under the kind of pressure that we did today, it becomes really hard to get back into the game. Our wicket-taking ability in the middle has been the difference in the game.”The Duckworth-Lewis system came into play again, and this time it was Australia who were left chasing a stiff target despite dominating with the ball. Ponting admitted the revised score had given New Zealand an opportunity to fight back, though his batsmen secured the target comfortably. “It was a bit stiff, I actually thought it might have been wrong,” Ponting said.”I thought that was about 30 runs too many. It just goes to show that none of those equations are going to be perfect. We probably needed to be rewarded more for having bowled them out in 44 overs. But when you’re chasing 200 in 34 overs on a ground like that – 200 in a T20 game is only a good score out here – we knew that if we didn’t buy ourselves out of the water early and lose too many wickets early, we should be able to manage the chase.”[Cameron] White played a very sensible and mature innings, and it was a good run-chase in the end.”Ponting hinted at changes for the final ODI in Wellington, and added the presence of experienced players in his side made his job easier despite the absence of Michael Clarke, who had to return to Australia for personal reasons. “It does present an opportunity to include some new names,” Ponting said. “A couple of guys are a little sore after the game tonight. We’ll see how they pull up in the morning. We’ll look at giving McKay a go. We need to look ahead at the Test matches.”I’m lucky to have people like Hussey and White, who have good cricket brains. . Although you’ve lost your vice-captain, there are plenty of experienced guys around. Little things like, I’d like to think, bring good teams closer.”

Potts has retained his place, while Billings has been dropped following Foakes’ recovery after a bout of Covid-19

Vithushan Ehantharajah02-Aug-2022England have handed a recall to Ollie Robinson for the upcoming home Test series with South Africa.Robinson, the right-arm seamer whose last Test appearance was against Australia in Hobart in January this year, has made the squad of 14 for the first two matches of the three-match series after a battle with an array of ailments that kept him out of action for almost two months. After coming through problems with his back, Covid-19, and dental issues, he will be in line to add to his nine caps so far.Related

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Robinson, 28, has had a mixed start to his Test cricketer, despite exemplary overall figures of 39 dismissals at an average of 21.28. His debut at Lord’s at the start of last summer was marred by the emergence of historic offensive tweets, before he put that behind him to emerge as England’s standout bowler of 2021 and earning a spot as one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year. However, he was publicly admonished for his fitness during the 4-0 Ashes defeat, something which came in for further scrutiny when he was unable to play a part in England’s tour of the Caribbean in March.He began the 2022 summer looking to put that problem behind him only for back spasms and other niggles to restrict him to just four first-class appearances by the middle of May. But 4 for 44 and 5 for 66 in his return to County Championship action for Sussex against Nottinghamshire last week, getting through 36.1 overs, showed Robinson was back on the right path. He will continue to prove his game-readiness by turning out for the England Lions in their four-day match against the South Africans at Canterbury, which begins on August 9. ESPNcricinfo understands batter Harry Brook, also a member of the 14-man squad, will play in this match too.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The finishing touches on the squad were made by the selection committee on Monday, with Brendon McCullum dialling in from New Zealand. He is due to be back in England by the start of next week.Robinson was expected to be part of the Lions squad, which is expected to be named on Friday. But an injury to Surrey quick Jamie Overton, who made his debut in the final Test against New Zealand at Headingley, saw them pick Robinson in the main group. Robinson was due to represent Manchester Originals in the Hundred, which starts on Wednesday, but opted to continue at Sussex and play in their Royal London Cup matches instead.Durham’s Matthew Potts, one of the beneficiaries of Robinson’s absence, retained his place in the squad after 18 dismissals from his four Tests this summer. Wicketkeeper-batter Sam Billings has dropped out now that Ben Foakes has recovered from his bout of Covid-19, which led to him being replaced during the Headingley Test.

“I haven’t even looked that far,” Morris said when asked about playing for South Africa in the future

Deivarayan Muthu30-Mar-20212:31

Chris Morris – ‘Stokes and I could be an interesting duo to come up against’

Chris Morris had played all of one international – a T20I against New Zealand in Durban – when he earned his maiden IPL deal in 2013, with the Chennai Super Kings shelling out US$ 625,000 for him. Eight years later, Morris’ South Africa future is uncertain, but he continues to be a sought-after player in the IPL.In the most recent auction, he became the most expensive player ever in the IPL, with the Rajasthan Royals outbidding the Royal Challengers Bangalore to sign him for INR 16.25 crore (USD 2.2 million approx.).Morris recalled the fierce bidding war for him at the auction earlier in February, saying his “breath was taken away”.Related

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“Look, I’ll be the first person to say that my breath was taken away,” Morris said during a virtual-media interaction on Tuesday. “I didn’t expect to first of all be bought for that much and second of all for so many teams to want to employ my services. It’s definitely a humbling feeling…and like I said it took my breath away for that to happen and for teams to keep going for me like that blew my mind.”Between the end of IPL 2020, when Morris was injured, and the IPL 2021 auction, Morris hadn’t played a single competitive game, but the Royals still broke the bank for his big hitting and death bowling. Those dual skills have made him a T20 globetrotter – he has had stints in the BBL, IPL, and T20 Blast in England. This will be Morris’ eighth IPL season and he will return to the Royals, a franchise he represented in 2015, when they made the playoffs. Morris, now 33, said that initially he didn’t see himself playing as many seasons in the league.”I never in my wildest dreams thought I’ll be in my ninth IPL or eighth – math has never been my strong suit – but I never thought I’ll be playing this many IPLs,” he said. “For me to still be needed for my services and be valued is very cool and humbled. We need to put the performances in; it’s as simple as that. When you do contribute to the team and have a bit of fun…amazing things happen when you have fun on the cricket field.”Morris also looked back at the IPL as a “life-changing” event, cherishing the experience of playing with and against top international players in the world.”You want to use the word life-changing, but every single time you come to the IPL, your life changes whether it’s personal or cricket or anything else,” he said. “It’s a life-changing experience to be part of the IPL. It’s been an absolute blast of a journey so far and hopefully there’s a new story to be written over the next nine weeks.”Morris, though, refused to view the IPL as a dry run for the 2021 T20 World Cup, which will also be held in India, insisting that his focus is entirely on performing for the Royals.”Whether there’s a World Cup or not, it’s going to be a very important [IPL] season all the way,” he said. “Like I said, World Cup or no World Cup, [I] still want to win the IPL doesn’t matter what’s coming up after. Your main focus is to win the IPL – the second-biggest trophy, if not the biggest trophy to win in a year without the World Cup. It’s the biggest trophy to win as a cricketer playing domestic cricket. The whole world is watching you, the eyes are on you. It’s the one. It’s the big one to win as a player especially when you’re playing in it for a quite a number of years. You don’t want to use the word tick the box, but definitely something you want to do to have an opportunity to win the IPL.”Other guys will hopefully be focusing on the World Cup and that takes their focus away from the IPL and we can jump onto that. Personally, I’m not worried about the World Cup, I’m here to do the job to win matches and hopefully push for winning the trophy in the IPL.”Earlier this year, when asked about his South Africa future, Morris didn’t provide a firm answer. This time as well, he maintained his stance on the matter, having last played international cricket in the 2019 50-over World Cup.”I haven’t even looked that far,” Morris said. “I’ve just focused on playing for Rajasthan Royals – that’s my immediate focus and port of call right now. We will cross that bridge if we get there – if it ever arrives – but no focus on that and all my focus is here.”Playing for the Royals will invite price-tag pressure – and there will be greater pressure if the injured Jofra Archer is sidelined from the entire tournament – but Morris wasn’t too fussed about it, having dealt with it in the past.”It’s natural to have a little bit of added pressure when something like that has happened [at the auction],” he said. I would be lying if I said there wasn’t any pressure. But, fortunately enough, in the past I have come in [to the tournament] with quite a big price tag on my head, so at the end of the day, you got to perform on the field, no matter what your price tag is. So, there is a little bit of added pressure, but the pressure that you get from a price tag doesn’t affect you on a cricket field at the end of the day.”Morris disagrees with Steyn about too much money talk in IPL
During his PSL stint with the Quetta Gladiators, Dale Steyn, speaking to , reckoned that the IPL was less rewarding than some of the other T20 leagues, with more “emphasis on the amount of money”. Morris, however, disagreed with his former team-mate at South Africa and the Royal Challengers.”No, I don’t feel the same (laughs). Dale’s a free spirit, Dale’s one of the legends of the game, Dale’s one of my favourite people in the world,” Morris said. “Dale’s got his opinions, he will be outspoken about his opinions, but that’s Dale’s character.”I’m not going to delve into it too much and it was just the case of Dale feeling at that time what Dale was feeling – what he was feeling emotionally or physically or mentally. Whatever he feels that’s what he feels, and I’m happy to have a conversation with him about it. But, we’re all different animals, we’re all different people and we have different opinions and that’s what makes the world go around.”