Australia finally ready to unleash Lance ‘The Wild Thing’ Morris this summer

David Warner and his Aussie teammates avoid Lance Morris in the nets – and now the rest of the world is about to find out why. The emerging quick opens up on the summer ahead.

Lance ‘The Wild Thing’ Morris peered through the debris of a dramatic Ashes loss to spot the fast bowler he wanted to be.

Much as he was in despair for Australia in the third Test at Leeds, he could not take his eyes off England speed demon Mark Wood who took seven wickets bowling frightening pace to almost single-handedly turn the series on its head.

“It just made me excited. Excited to bowl,” Morris said.

“Watching someone 100 per cent commit to bowling fast is exciting and to be honest, just made me super excited for the season coming.

“There’s no doubt that influenced the series for sure.

“I think that (Wood’s injection into the series in the third Test) was a huge turning point for England and you could feel the game just went to another level when he came on. His raw pace is a pretty big asset.”

Lance Morris fielding for Australia last summer. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

It is very rare that a fast bowler can rattle batsmen with sheer pace.

Shoaib Akhtar, Brett Lee, Dale Steyn, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait and Wood stand out in recent generations, but it’s a precious gift that does not come along every day.

It is why Morris, with his 150km/h thunderbolts, is on the cusp of debuting in Test cricket this summer, even if he has the ‘big three’ of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood standing in his way.

Selectors have told the 25-year-old tearaway to ‘be ready’ and if given an opportunity he will be inspired by Wood’s decimation of Australia.

“He was bowling at the speed of light so if I could bowl anywhere near that for a sustained amount of time then that’s a pretty good effort I think,” Morris said.

“Basically the communication I’ve had is pretty much, just be ready for an Aussie summer, really, because there’s so much cricket to come in the next few months and a lot of guys are on the road playing different formats.

“Naturally, bowlers get tired, especially if you’re playing multi-formats. It’s just about being fit and ready and hopefully an opportunity comes.

“(Rare pace) is what maybe gets me a foot in the door at the moment.

“Fast bowling is obviously really difficult on the body and that’s pretty much the main challenge, is staying on the park.

“I’m looking forward to embracing the challenge.”

Selectors have told the WA quick to be ready. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

Just like Morris has embraced the ‘Wild Thing’ nickname bestowed on him by West Australia teammates in homage to the original ‘Wild Thing’, South Australian slinger, Shaun Tait.

“I was sort of hesitant about it at first, I really thought there was only one original ‘Wild Thing,’” Morris said.

“I still do. But I guess I’ll just embrace it at this point because I think it has well and truly stuck.”

There is a presence to Morris to the point where Australia’s batsmen want absolutely nothing to do with him.

The silent treatment isn’t part of some sort of punitive initiation for the youngster, rather it’s because the batters are smart enough to get out of the way.

“I finally managed to bowl to David Warner once, when we were over in India,” Morris said about the uncanny phenomenon of batsmen dodging his net at practice.

“I think a few of the guys get into him about that. He likes a few side arms and a couple of feel goods before he goes out which is fair enough.”

That intimidation factor which you can’t teach is one of the reasons why he formed a bond in his formative years with the legendary, Dennis Lillee.

Australia’s greatest ever fast bowler might be from the old school, but Lillee impressed Morris with his ability to connect with the new breed.

Australian batters are never in a rush to face him in the nets. Picture: Phil Hillyard

“What I found pretty amazing is he’s very adaptable with his teaching,” Morris said.

“I don’t want to offend anyone, but I think some older guys are a bit stuck in their own ways and there’s an old school fashion of teaching cricket and then there’s this new adaptable teaching approach.

“He was really good at that. And he was honest. He was basically saying he didn’t actually love his own action and that he was like a work in progress for while as well in his career.

“That was nice to hear. But in his technical stuff he was really straight forward and basic which is nice.

“He is really big about run-up and really maximising what you can get out of your run up and the way you can change it on the crease and attack angles and things like that.

“To be honest it was just pretty cool to meet someone who has been at the top of the game.

“Everyone pretty much holds him as one of the best that’s ever been. To have him as a bit of a mentor and on the other end of the phone if I ever need is really cool.”

Morris loved working with Aussie great Dennis Lillee. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

Lillee’s ability to sympathise with the arduous struggle of being a fast bowler and the very real strain it puts on the body certainly helped soothe Morris in a year where a stress spot on his back cruelled his Ashes dream.

Given the series-changing influence of Wood from the third Test onwards, it is fair to suggest Morris likely would have been unleashed on England as a counterattacking weapon by Australia late in the series had he been part of the squad.

Unfortunately, Morris was ordered to rest after doctors feared an Ashes tour could push him over the edge to a long-term back injury.

“When it fractures and it opens up that’s when you have a long period of time out of the game, so it was a bit of managed time and they said, go and put your feed up for a bit and just make sure it all clears up,” Morris said.

“It’s one of those things you can take a gamble on it and push through and hope it doesn’t get much worse and sorts itself out.

“But worse-case scenario it is a long time out of the game.

“If I had pushed through I could have been sitting here with a fractured back.

“It just made sense to have a bit of a spell and have the Aussie summer as the goal.”

Originally published as Australia finally ready to unleash Lance ‘The Wild Thing’ Morris this summer