South Africa all-rounder Chris Morris has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on Tuesday, January 11. The 34-year-old has brought the curtains down on his 12 year-old long career that started in 2009 with a first class match.
In 69 appearances for the Proteas across the three formats, Morris took 94 wickets. A gifted hitter in the lower-order, he couldn’t quite translate his talent into big contributions with the bat, aggregating a total of 774 international runs.
in few Months a ago South African all-rounder Chris Morris has picked his all-time T20 XI In a chat with Sportskeeda. He named five Indian players. He named three West Indies players and one each from Sri Lanka, South Africa and Australia.
At the top, Morris picked the pairing of Rohit Sharma and Chris Gayle as the opening batters. While Rohit is the most successful player in international cricket and IPL history, having won 6 titles in his career, Gayle remains the most prolific batter in the format.
At the No. 3 position, it was Morris’ compatriot AB de Villiers who earned a spot in the list while Virat Kohli was slotted in at the No. 4 position in the list. De Villiers and Kohli have been playing with each other for years at Royal Challengers Bangalore.
West Indies captain Kiroen Pollard 0ccupied the No. 5 spot in the team. Pollard is also a hugely experienced player in the T20 circuit, having won a number of titles both in international cricket and franchise leagues.
He was selected by Indian cricketer MS Dhoni as the captain and wicketkeeper of the team. He was also named one more all-rounders joined the list in the form of Hardik Pandya and Sunil Narine. While Hardik has done phenomenal in the Indian Cricket and IPL over the years.
The bowling force was strengthened by one spinner and three fast bowlers. Narine’s mystery spin bowling and pinch-hitting remain very important to West indian Cricket and franchise leagues Along with two world cricket legends Lasith Malinga and Brett Lee, the young Indian Jasprit Bumrah has been named as a fast bowlers.
While Bumrah and Malinga have had extremely successful careers in the shortest format of the game, Lee had a relatively short stint but he still managed to impress Morris enough to earn a spot in his team.
Chris Morris’ all-time T20 XI:
1. Rohit Sharma, 2. Chris Gayle, 3. AB de Villiers, 4. Virat Kohli, 5. Kieron Pollard, 6. MS Dhoni (captain and wicket-keeper), 7. Hardik Pandya, 8. Sunil Narine, 9. Jasprit Bumrah, 10. Brett Lee ,11. Lasith Malinga.
Morris made his international debut in 2012 with a T20I against New Zealand and went on to play ODI and Test cricket as well. In four Tests, 42 ODIs and 23 T20Is, Morris went on to pick up 12, 48 and 34 wickets respectively.
Morris took to Instagram and wrote, “Today I announce my retirement from all forms of cricket! Thanks to all who have played a part in my journey whether it be big or small…it’s been a fun ride! Delighted to be taking up a coaching role at @titanscricket #lifebeginsnow.”
Earlier, back in October, Morris said that his career for the Proteas was as good as over. The veteran said that Cricket South Africa didn’t get in touch with him for a long time.
“I had my discussions with whoever I needed to quite a while ago, I haven’t spoken to CSA since then. At the end of the day, how they treated Faf (du Plessis), Immi (Imran Tahir) or me is something they’ve to deal with, there is no way I can comment. I wasn’t a part of the negotiations, I haven’t been spoken to for a year, maybe longer than a year,” Morris told Sportskeeda.
“So can’t really comment on what’s happening, a few stories are coming out, I know which one I can believe. It’s a touchy subject, there are so many different angles to it,” he stated.
Morris last played for South Africa in the 2019 World Cup match against Australia at the Old Trafford in Manchester.