Premier Cricket: East Doncaster’s Shaun Morris joins Fitzroy Doncaster

A rising fast bowler from the Eastern Cricket Association has joined Premier club Fitzroy Doncaster.

Lions great Peter Dickson and club captain Ejaaz Alavi have given new arrival Shaun Morris a ringing endorsement. Picture: Hamish Blair

Former Fitzroy-Doncaster captain Peter Dickson has endorsed young East Doncaster paceman Shaun Morris’s move to play Premier Cricket with the Lions.

The 21-year-old right-arm fast man played in East’s First XI Dunstan Shield premiership in the Eastern Cricket Association last season.

He finished with 31 wickets at an average of 9.65 and with a best of 5-31.

Dickson said Morris was a good prospect and was doing the right thing in joining the Lions.

“He’s a really good, competitive kid strong and strapping, bowls with a slinging type of action and attacks the stumps,’’ he said.

“He was clearly the best bowler in the ECA last season with his numbers, and he’s quite a damaging middle to lower-order batsman. He’s just a good all-round cricketer.

“He went through Wesley (College) with Michael Beer as his coach and he came to our club with the thought of playing a year or two at East Doncaster and then having a look at Premier Cricket.

“He spoke to me probably halfway through the year and said that he was thinking about it, and I said to him we could arrange training.

“He went there and really enjoyed it.’’

Morris had previously played at Glen Iris.

Shaun Morris made a strong impression at the Lions upon training at the club. Picture: Hamish Blair

Fitzroy Doncaster captain Ejaaz Alavi said the young paceman made a strong impression at the Lions when he trained with the club during the 2020-21 finals series.

He joins a bowling attack which includes the skipper with a leading 24 wickets last season, Sam Elliott and Nicholas Fletcher (22 apiece), and Alavi believes it’ll be hot competition for spots among the order.

“We were really excited with what we saw when he (Morris) came and trained with us, and we think he’s going to be a really good prospect for the club,” Alavi said.

“He’ll add some great depth to our current bowling stocks and obviously we had a really good year last season and all the bowlers played a really important role. It’s going to be tough for spots and pre-season’s going to play a big role.”

Morris’ inclusion adds to a fruitful off-season for the Lions, with the additions of former Carnegie skipper and leading Cricket Southern Bayside batsman Abhi Sharman making the move to try his hand at Premier level, and returning name Zac Parr.

Parr lands back at Schramms Reserve from Box Hill Reporter club Heatherdale, where he served as a playing assistant coach.

He was a standout on the way to his club’s grand final appearance last season, taking 25 wickets to top his club’s count to finish sixth overall, culminating in the ‘Dales’ club champion award. He returns to the Lions where he spent nine seasons in the Premier system.

Fitzroy Doncaster played off in a semi-final last season after finishing eighth and eliminating minor premier Carlton in the first week.

“He’s (Parr) played a lot of cricket at Fitzroy and a few games in the First XI a couple of years ago. We’re excited with the depth that we’re bringing in and hoping we can keep this group together and push for more success,” Alavi said.