'Longest preseason' over with Morris primed to face England

It's been the longest and, at times, toughest 'preseason' he's ever done but after 20 months on the sidelines, speedster Lance Morris is back and ready to "let a few go" on the national stage again.

In terms of comeback games at domestic level, this Saturday is perhaps as big as it could get for Morris, with a crowd of more than 5,000 expected at the WACA Ground to see Western Australia take on England in a 50-over match.

While most will be there to watch the touring team as they warm up for ODI and T20 series against Australia over the next month, the sight of Morris in full flow once again will no doubt attract its own share of attention.

The right-armer, one of the fastest bowlers in the country when fully fit, bowled his first overs in competitive cricket since March last year when he took two wickets for his Premier club Scarborough in a T20 fixture last Sunday.

Although his next match will be quite a step up, it's nothing Morris hasn't experienced before, having previously made the jump from a first-grade to international opponent when he was picked to face England in a two-day tour match as a 19-year-old ahead of the 2017-18 Ashes.

"I was pretty raw back then and I probably didn't really know exactly where they were going," Morris, who has since played three ODIs for Australia, quipped of his first taste coming up against an international batting line-up, where he claimed the scalp of 11-Test opener Mark Stoneman.

"I do distinctly remember bowling a ball to Joe Root that went to third slip. So, hopefully, I can hit the pitch this time around."

This time, however, Morris returns to face England with far more experience and a fresh perspective forged during a gruelling rehabilitation journey that tested his patience as much as his body.

Morris hasn't played a top-level match since the last round of the 2024-25 Sheffield Shield season after opting for pars stabilisation surgery in August last year to address a long-term lumbar bone stress injury.

The 28-year-old hopes the procedure – a similar operation that helped state teammate Cameron Green return to the international arena – will allow him to enjoy an extended run in Perth Scorchers, WA and Australia colours.

His immediate goal is to get back to playing red-ball cricket for WA and "see where (he can) get to".

"It's easy to cast your eyes that far ahead and have goals to play for Australia, but I think at the moment it's just one step in front of the other and getting through a couple of games unscathed," Morris said in Perth today.

"The stabilisation (surgery) in my back (was to address) a long-term stress fracture there that essentially wasn't going away and was giving me a bit of grief.

"We had an eye on it for the best part of three years, managing me through and hoping that it would heal naturally.

"But I got to a point where I had to have 12 months off cricket; either 12 months of pure rest and hoping that it healed naturally or address it with this surgical intervention and hopefully put it behind me for good."

The lengthy road back threw up further challenges for Morris, with his recovery stretching to 15 months after he got "a little bit excited" to bowl in a preseason practice game in August and injured his side.

"Early doors, after surgery, it was pretty smooth sailing to start with," Morris said. "Then as we were starting to return to play, things didn't quite go how we planned and it (became) a little bit turbulent at times.

"More recently, I guess there were there were a few sessions there where I'd rock up to training and feel pretty average when I was bowling and pretty down in the dumps.

"(The) side strain, which was another eight weeks on top of what it had already been a really long rehab, that was tough to get through.

"But I've been really grateful for the medical staff at WA Cricket and all the guys getting around me and helping me through the rehab process.

"I feel really good at the moment, and I think I've sort of pushed through a bit of a threshold and got back to that game intensity that we were looking for.

"It's been the longest preseason I've ever had. I'm feeling really fit and firing to attack what's hopefully a pretty big season."

Morris' extended absence coincided with the emergence of another exciting West Australian tearaway in Mahli Beardman, who spent the off-season on his own comeback path after also going down with a stress fracture in January.

Beardman will also be part of Australia's ODI and T20I squads to face England after impressing with five wickets for Australia A in two one-day matches during last month's tour of India.

The pair will be hoping Saturday's clash with England goes as well as the last time they bowled together for WA, when Beardman took four wickets and Morris two against South Australia in February 2025.

"He's a star in the making. He's got all the attributes to be an incredible … multi-format cricketer," Morris said of his younger teammate.

Morris too is eager to show he's lost none of his strike power.

"It's exciting to come up against an amazing team in England; it's going to be pretty cool to test ourselves against an outfit of that calibre," he said.

"It's a big game, so fingers crossed we can get an amazing turnout, and we can give them a bit of a shake."

England white-ball tour of Australia 2026

50-over tour match: November 7 v WA, WACA Ground, 2:30pm AEDT (D/N)

First ODI: November 13, Perth Stadium, 2:30pm AEDT (D/N)

Second ODI: November 15, Adelaide Oval, 2:30pm AEDT (D/N)

Third ODI: November 18, Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 2:30pm AEDT (D/N)

Australia squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Mahli Beardman, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Jack Edwards, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Ollie Peake, Matthew Renshaw, Liam Scott, Adam Zampa.

England squad: Harry Brook (c), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Sonny Baker, Tom Banton, Jacob Bethell, Jordan Cox, Henry Crocombe, Sam Curran, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Josh Tongue

First T20I: November 21, MCG, 7:15pm AEDT

Second T20I: November 24, Gold Coast Stadium, 7:15pm AEDT

Third T20I: November 27, The Gabba, 7:15pm AEDT

Fourth T20I: November 29, SCG, 7:15pm AEDT

Fifth T20I: December 2, Manuka Oval, 7:15pm AEDT

Australia squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Mahli Beardman, Nikhil Chaudhary, Tim David, Joel Davies, Jack Edwards, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sam Harper, Spencer Johnson, Mitch Owen, Lachlan Shaw, Adam Zampa

England squad: Harry Brook (c), Tom Banton, Jacob Bethell, James Coles, Jordan Cox, Henry Crocombe, Sam Curran, Liam Dawson, Aneurin Donald, Eddie Jack, Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, Adil Rashid, Thomas Rew, Phil Salt, Luke Wood.