charlie morris was pleased to be back in specsavers county championship action and amongst the wickets in helping worcestershire into a strong position on day two of the specsavers county championship match with glamorgan at New Road.
the paceman took his wicket-tally in first class cricket to 38 this season with his 5-73 to help worcestershire bowl out their opponents and earn a first innings lead of 12.
then half centuries from hamish rutherford and daryl mitchell pressed home the county’s advantage by the close.
morris said: “i really enjoyed it today. i felt my first spell in particular is probably some of the best i’ve felt all season.
“you go through peaks and troughs in terms of how you feel and i was really pleased with how it came out today.
“there was a bit of swing. it always helps when the pitch is giving a bit of assistance. all in all, really happy to get some wickets for the side and to contribute.”
morris was on the end of some late order hitting from michael hogan before claiming his scalp.
he said: “when you play against the tail, they generally play differently and give the ball a bit of a whack and you do have to hold your nerve.
“it’s tough as a bowler sometimes because it’s not fun seeing the ball going over the fence when you’ve worked so hard to keep your figures at a respectable economy rate for most of the duration.
“i’m just pleased to come away with a five-for and hopefully there are some more wickets in the second innings for us all.
“i thought finchy (adam finch) bowled a really good spell, you look at the way barny ed barnard) bowled and leachy (joe leachy) was really unlucky not to get wickets. he beat the bat so many times this morning.
“it was just my luck today to get the five wickets but i thought all of the bowlers could have picked up more.”
morris is hoping worcestershire can press home their advantage.
he said: “it was a brilliant day for us. it’s been a tough season (in the championship) so the boys are really pleased to be in a commanding position in this game.
“i thought we bowled really well as a unit this morning and the batters backed that up. mitch (daryl mitchell), in particular i thought, did a fantastic job along with rudsy (hamish rutherford).
“we will hopefully push on tomorrow and make the most of it.
“naturally as the game goes on in four-day cricket, the pitch flattens out a little bit. it had more moisture in it yesterday, a bit more tennis ball bounce, which made it harder to drive on.
“now that moisture has gone, it is a little bit even in bounce. there are certainly still balls in it and the way rudsy got out to smithy (ruaidhri smith) was a very good ball.
“the more runs we can pile on tomorrow, then hopefully we can get into a really good position to give ourselves a target to bowl them out.”
morris added: “we are all delighted daryl has got a fifty in his 200th game for the club and he is a class player. form is temporary, class is permanent and he has proven that today and yesterday on a tough wicket.
“the number of balls he managed to face probably indicates it is not totally easy to score freely and he has found it hard this season at times but it is great to see him get some runs and we hope he gets another fifty and we will be clapping him for a hundred.”
morris was unsurprised by the way jack haynes also applied himself and dug in alongside mitchell during the final session.
he said: “jack is a phenomenal prospect. he has got so much ability. we’ve seen that in the seconds over the last couple of years. his ball striking ability is quite excellent.
“i’m not really actually that surprised. i can’t really say enough about him in terms of how good a young player he is.
“the way he soaked in the pressure and was patient today in that innings with mitch has really set us up nicely and to go into tomorrow with eight wickets in hand is a really strong position.
“is a good target to set them 300? absolutely. i think that is hopefully a bare minimum. i think 300 plus on that wicket….there are still balls in it so hopefully we can push onto that target and beyond and give ourselves every chance to come away with another win this season.
“everyone is enjoying the fact we’ve managed to get into this position. it’s been a real tough season and we are just enjoying it.
