Australian News – Lance Morris and Jhye Richardson backed up summer prospects after injury

Morris, a Western Australian who made his ODI debut last season against the West Indies as he was also part of the Test squad, is working to recover from a back injury that prevented him from playing in the winter. It is a repeat of what happened after the 2022-23 season when he was dropped from the Ashes tour.

“Lance is still working on his return to play and recovery,” said national selector George Bailey. “Know that he’s progressing well, he’s feeling good, he’s starting to get to that point where he wants cricket and thinks he’s going to get the hell out of it in the summer and that will be really nice to see him come back.

“We felt the same way with him, that we wanted to make him successful in the long term rather than push that early and risk what we think is something that could be exciting this summer and beyond.”

Richardson, who is “fit and firing” according to Bailey, has featured for Delhi Capitals in IPL 2024 after another disrupted domestic season where he struggled during the BBL and was recently called up to the ODI squad. He last appeared for Australia against Sri Lanka in mid-2022.

“Jhye is in the same boat,” Bailey said. “He’s fit and firing now, and he’s looking for chances to match. I think he’ll get chances again in the summer. [him and Morris] I think it is coming to an end during the season and hopefully it will increase the amount of cricket they play. Some of that will be domestic, hopefully there will be international opportunities [and] Australia A’s chances, I think we have set them up for success in the long term. “

The strength of Australia’s top three pacers – Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins – has meant limited changes to the Test attack in recent times with the exception of Scott Boland’s appearance when one of them was left out. They have also featured in ODIs and the T20 World Cup in the past nine months although they have been less rotated outside of those events.

Whether Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins can fit in for the rest of the 5-Test series against India later this year is likely to be debated again and the selectors should factor those workloads into their plans.

“Regarding the fast bowling team, think we have an interesting team where we haven’t had the opportunity to get many games in all forms especially because we have had a very successful and strong senior. the team threw them quickly,” said Bailey.

“It is clear that some of the decisions taken in this series are to prioritize and make the boys understand what will be a very big summer and for some boys this is an opportunity to get more work in what they will need to be ready. for that.”