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

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er, who played for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in three Test matches and eight

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

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 of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

from 1982 to 1993, for Durham from 1994 to 1999 and for

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

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 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 Engla ...

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

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

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 named 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 sinc ...

, following on. Morris was selected for the tour to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

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

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

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

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

, 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 T ...

in a

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

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 or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

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 1973 until 1997, he was ...

, 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 list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

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

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

Brian Lara Brian Charles Lara, (born 2 May 1969) is a Trinidadian former international cricketer, widely renowned as one of the greatest Batting (cricket), batsmen of all time. He holds several cricketing records, including the record for the highest in ...

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 nucleated village, centred on the western bank of the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent at the mouth of the River Ecclesbourne. It is within the ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, John 1964 births Living people England Test cricketers England One Day International cricketers English cricketers Derbyshire cricketers Durham cricketers Griqualand West cricketers Nottinghamshire cricketers Cricketers from Crewe Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Scarborough Festival President's XI cricketers Test and County Cricket Board XI cricketers 20th-century English sportsmen