Bruce Morrison (cricketer)

Bruce Donald Morrison (born 17 December 1933, Lower Hutt) is a former New Zealand cricketer. Morrison, who bowled right arm medium pace but was a left-handed tail-end batsman^[1]

Domestic career

He first appeared for his local side, Hutt Valley, in an away game at Nelson in the Hawke Cup (25–27 December 1951).^[2]

Aged 20, he made his first class debut for Wellington v Otago at the Basin Reserve on 7 January 1954. There, he made an immediate impact, taking 4-70 in Otago’s first innings and then a splendid 7-42 in their second (although Otago won a thriller by 3 runs).^[3] In his next game he continued his fine form, taking 5-60 v Auckland at Eden Park and scoring 33 not out with the bat.^[4] He finished the season with 22 wickets at an average of only 16.68.^[5]

The following season Morrison bowled consistently, but failed to make the headlines that he had done in his debut season. The highlight was undoubtedly Wellington's tour match against the MCC, when he picked up the prize wickets of England legends Trevor Bailey, Bill Edrich and Colin Cowdrey at the Basin Reserve.^[6] Ultimately, it was a disappointing season: Morrison finished well down the bowling averages, with just 16 wickets at nearly 30 apiece.^[7]

1955-56 was a better season overall, with 7-68 v Central Districts being the stand out performance,^[8] and a final haul of 24 wickets for the season. While the 1956-57 season was good (15 wickets at just 20.93 apiece) it wasn’t until 1960-61 (11 wickets at 17.81), 1961-62 (16 wickets at 18.93) and especially 1962-63 (27 wickets at 20.55, including 5-41 against Otago at Carisbrook, Dunedin^[9]) that he recaptured his early-career form.

After Test debut, Morrison played two more first-class seasons for Wellington, with his final match being for Wellington against the Pakistanis in the tour fixture (4–6 January 1965). He returned to play for Hutt Valley until he retired after the game against Northland in December 1967.^[10]

His first-class career total was 167 wickets at an average of 24.16.^[11]

International career

Morrison’s wicket-taking in 1962-63 led to his being called up to make his one and only test appearance as the 96th person capped by New Zealand ^[12] in the 2nd Test against England at the Basin Reserve on 1–4 March 1963. England only batted once, winning by an innings, and Morrison was expensive, with his two wickets (Ted Dexter and Peter Parfitt, both in the same over) coming at a cost of 129 runs.^[13] He was not selected for the 3rd Test.

References