John Morris (born John Edward Morris, 1 April 1964) is a former English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er, who played for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in three

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

and eight

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

s in 1990 and 1991. He played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

from 1982 to 1993, for

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

from 1994 to 1999 and for

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

in 2000 and 2001. The cricket writer, Colin Bateman, commented that Morris was, "a talented and potentially destructive middle-order batsman".

Career

Morris joined

in 1980. He made his first-class debut in the 1982 season against the touring Pakistanis and remained a consistent first-team player for twenty-one years, helping Derbyshire to win the

Refuge Assurance League The NatWest Pro40 League was a one-day cricket league for first-class cricket counties in England and Wales. It was inaugurated in 1999, but was essentially the old Sunday League retitled to reflect large numbers of matches being played on days o ...

in 1990 and the

Benson and Hedges Cup The Benson & Hedges Cup was a one-day cricket competition for first-class counties in England and Wales that was held from 1972 to 2002, one of cricket's longest sponsorship deals. It was the third major one-day competition established in Englan ...

three years later. Morris was picked for the three-match Test series at home against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in 1990. He took three catches in the first match and his highest score was 32 in the second innings of the third Test at

the Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

, following on. Morris was selected for the tour to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1990–1991, and performed adequately enough in the tour matches, scoring 132 against

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

just before the fourth Test. However, during the same up-country tour game at

Carrara Carrara ( , ; , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, in central Italy, of the province of Massa and Carrara, and notable for the white or blue-grey marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some Boxing the compass, west-northwest o ...

, Morris chose to join former Test captain

David Gower David Ivon Gower (born 1 April 1957) is an English cricket commentator and former cricketer who was captain of the England cricket team during the 1980s. Described as one of the most stylish left-handed batsmen of his era, Gower played 117 Te ...

in a

practical joke A practical joke, or prank, is a mischievous trick played on someone, generally causing the victim to experience embarrassment, perplexity, confusion, or discomfort.Marsh, Moira. 2015. ''Practically Joking''. Logan: Utah State University Press. ...

that backfired, each man hiring a Tiger Moth Biplane to fly over the ground as play continued below. According to some reports, Gower "buzzed" the ground. England management responded by not selecting Morris for any of the Test matches, or indeed any Test match ever again. Both players were fined £1,000, the maximum under the terms of their contract, with Peter Lush and touring

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Graham Gooch Graham Alan Gooch, (born 23 July 1953) is a former English first-class cricketer who captained Essex and England. He was one of the most successful international batsmen of his generation, and through a career spanning from 1973 until 2000, h ...

, considered sending the pair home from the tour.Cricinfo – When Gower's tour took off
/ref> Morris was selected for 8 matches during the

series on this tour, his best performance being a top score of 63 not out in a match at

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, which was not enough to see England to victory. In his seven other ODIs, he only scored 20 or more runs on one occasion. Following the tour, Morris never played representative cricket for England again. After a long career at Derbyshire, Morris moved to

in 1994; in June of the same year, while playing against

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

Brian Lara Brian Charles Lara, (born 2 May 1969) is a Trinidadian former international cricketer, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest batsmen of all time. He topped the Test batting rankings on several occasions and holds several cricketing reco ...

knocked a boundary from a delivery off Morris' occasional bowling as he reached the highest score in first-class cricket history, 501 not out. Morris moved to

in 2000 and retired in 2001. Morris was a stocky, right-handed middle-order batsman and made 21,539 runs in 362 first-class matches, including 52 centuries at an average of 37.72. He made 8,362 runs in 350 List A matches, with 10 centuries and an average of 27.06. Morris was later employed as Head of Cricket at Derbyshire but was sacked in May 2011, during the club's County Championship match against Essex. In 2018, Morris along with his son, opened a wine bar called Bradmans in

Duffield, Derbyshire Duffield is a village in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire, north of Derby. It is centred on the western bank of the River Derwent at the mouth of the River Ecclesbourne. It is within the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Area and th ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, John 1964 births Living people Cricketers from Cheshire England Test cricketers England One Day International cricketers English cricketers Derbyshire cricketers Durham cricketers Griqualand West cricketers Nottinghamshire cricketers Sportspeople from Crewe Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Scarborough Festival President's XI cricketers Test and County Cricket Board XI cricketers