Western Australia's Lance Morris is back playing cricket after 20 months on the sidelines due to injury.
The 28-year-old missed the entire 2025-26 cricket season after undergoing pars stabilisation surgery in August last year to handle a long-term lumbar bone stress injury as he now eyes a potential return to the national stage.
He hopes the procedure, which is a similar operation that helped state teammate Cameron Green return to the international scene, will allow him to enjoy an extended run for the Perth Scorchers, Western Australia, and, eventually, Australia.
After gradually returning to full fitness during the off-season, Morris was poised to make his comeback at the start of the Australian domestic season before a side strain sidelined him for almost two months.
Morris returned on Sunday in a T20 match in Western Australia Premier
Cricket, where he took 2-14 off four overs for club side Scarborough.
"I'm really excited. I think it's been the longest pre-season I've ever had, so I'm feeling really fit," Morris said on Wednesday.
"It was good to get a game in for the local cricket club over the weekend and let a few go, so it was awesome."
He will further ramp up on Saturday for a Western Australia (WA) side taking on England, who will launch their white-ball tour of Australia with a one-day warm-up match at the WACA.
Saturday's match will be a significant step up for Morris, although he has previously faced England in a two-day tour match as a teenager ahead of the 2017-18 Ashes.
"I was pretty raw back then, and I probably didn't really know exactly where they were going," Morris said.
"I do distinctly remember bowling a ball to Joe Root that went to third slip. So, hopefully, I can hit the pitch this time around."
In terms of playing cricket, he says he got to a point where he had to take time off.
"I got to a point where, essentially, I had to have 12 months off cricket."
"It was either 12 months of pure rest and hoping that it heals naturally or address it with this surgical intervention and hopefully put it behind me for good.
"It was certainly tough at times. More recently, there were a few sessions there where I'd rock up to training and feel pretty average when I was bowling.
"[I] was [feeling] pretty down in the dumps. I feel really good at the moment, and I think I've pushed through a bit of a threshold and got back to that game intensity that we were looking for."
A fit Morris, nicknamed the "Wild Thing" due to his ability to bowl 140km+, will be another selection headache for George Bailey and other national selectors, with fast-bowling depth crucial as Australia's attack is on the cusp of a significant transition.
"I think it's easy to sort of cast your eyes that far ahead and have goals to play for Australia," Morris said.
"But I think, at the moment, it's just one step in front of the other and getting through a couple of games unscathed. Then see where we get to."
Given his time away from the game, other pace bowlers have come into the fold for national selection, including his fellow state teammates. Jhye Richardson has been fantastic to start the season in Sheffield Shield competition, while youngster Mahli Beardman's rise to international cricket continues to develop as he has been named in Australia's white-ball squads against England.
WA squad for one-day game against England: Ashton Turner (captain), Ashton Agar, Cam Bancroft, Mahli Beardman, Brody Couch, Joel Curtis, Jayden Goodwin, Will Malajczuk, Lance Morris, Jordan Quiggin, Corey Wasley, Sam Whiteman.
