“I want to play cricket for my country”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

South Africa all-rounder Chris Morris has made it clear that he has no intention of ending his international career by signing a Kolpak deal.

Morris has been sidelined with a knee injury as of late and will now have to put in the hard yards in order to ensure he is a regular face in the South African side.

Despite this, he has vowed not to follow in the footsteps of Kyle Abbott, Rilee Rossouw and David Wiese, who have all inked Kolpak deals recently.

“There’s been a lot of noise around Kolpak, it has not only hampered me but has hampered a lot of other people; it’s a personal thing and is up to the person,” Morris said. “I had a good sit down with Mark Boucher (Titans coach) and chatted to him about the Kolpak situation. There were no offers or anything, just a lot of noise around it.

“For me, I have committed myself to CSA and I want to play cricket for my country. I’m going to give it a full go and at the end of the day if I don’t play more cricket than I have now, then so be it, then at least I can say I tried my best to get there.

“If I don’t get selected for the Proteas I will go back to the Titans and fight for my spot back in the national side.”

Morris also admitted that he is eager to regain his spot in the Test team, but acknowledged that it will be a lot easier said than done.

Nonetheless, with Abbott having vacated his spot by signing a Kolpak deal with Hampshire, Morris could potentially take his place in the side.

“I will always look to play Test cricket,” the Pretoria native, who last played Test cricket in January last year, said. It’s what I want to do and what I want to play because for me it’s the best format of cricket. If I don’t play it again, so be it, but I will never stop trying to get there.”