Arthur Robert Morris (19 January 1922 – 22 August 2015) was an Australian cricketer who played 46 Test matches between 1946 and 1955. An opener, Morris is regarded as one of Australia's greatest left-handed batsmen. He is best known for his key role in Don Bradman's Invincibles side, which made an undefeated tour of England in 1948. He was the leading scorer in the Tests on the tour, with three centuries. His efforts in the Fourth Test at Headingley helped Australia to reach a world record victory target of 404 on the final day. Morris was named in the Australian Cricket Board's Team of the Century in 2000 and was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2001.
In his youth, Morris excelled at rugby union as well as cricket, being selected for the state schoolboys' team in both sports. Originally trained in spin bowling, Morris developed as a batsman during his teens and during the 1940–41 season became the first player in the world to score two centuries on his first-class debut. His career was interrupted by the Second World War, during which he served in the Australian Army and gained selection in its rugby union team. Upon the resumption of cricket in 1946, Morris made his Test debut against England and quickly made himself a core member of the team. He made a century in his third match and scored twin centuries in the following Test, becoming only the second Australian to do so in an Ashes Test. His rise was such that he was made a selector during the Invincibles tour after only 18 months in the team.
After the 4–0 series win over England, which was Don Bradman's farewell series, Morris became Australia's vice-captain and was expected to be its leading batsman. He started well, scoring two centuries during Australia's first series in the post-Bradman era, a tour to South Africa that saw Australia win the Test series 4–0. By the end of the South African tour, Morris had amassed nine Test centuries and his batting average was over 65, but thereafter his form declined. Australia increasingly fell on hard times as the core of Bradman's team aged and retired. Morris was overlooked for the captaincy and then briefly dropped as his cricketing prowess waned. His career ended after his first wife became terminally ill. Later in his life, Morris served as a trustee of the Sydney Cricket Ground for over twenty years.
In 2017, Morris was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
Early years
The son of a schoolteacher who played for Waverley Cricket Club in Sydney as a fast bowler, Morris was born on 19 January 1922 in the Sydney seaside suburb of Bondi and spent his early years in the city. His family moved when he was five to Dungog, then to Newcastle before returning to Sydney in the suburb of Beverly Hills. By this time, Morris' parents had separated.
His father encouraged him to play sports and he showed promise in a variety of ball sports, particularly cricket, rugby and tennis. Aged 12, he gained a place as a slow bowler for Newcastle Boys' High School's cricket team. On Saturday afternoons he played for Blackwall, a team in the local C-grade competition.<!--is that an actual ranking?--><!-- yes, third division --> Morris attended Canterbury Boys' High School from 1936 to 1939 where he represented the school at cricket and rugby union, and was appointed school captain (head boy) in Year 11. He gave chances that were dropped early in both innings, but impressed observers with his ability to remain settled.
Second World War and Test debut
Morris' first-class cricket career was interrupted by the Second World War when domestic matches were cancelled at the end of the season. On 5 January 1943, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force, and served in the South West Pacific, mostly in New Guinea with the 8th Movement Control Group, part of the Royal Australian Corps of Transport. During his time in the army, Morris spent more time playing rugby union than cricket. The coach of the Army and Combined Services rugby team, Johnny Wallace, regarded him as the "best five eighth in Australia".
He returned to his pre-war clerical job at the Sydney Town Hall, but soon switched to a job with motor parts distributor Stack & Company, which allowed him more time for cricket commitments.
After scoring 81 for New South Wales in his next match, against the MCC, After defending stoutly at the beginning of the innings, Morris accelerated his scoring, employing a wide range of strokes to reach 150 in six hours. at the end of play on the second day in response to England's first innings score of 460, Morris combined with Lindsay Hassett, who scored 78, to lead a recovery. After England's Denis Compton scored his second century of the match in the second innings, Morris put in another determined effort to ensure a draw. With the match secure, Morris played more aggressively towards the end in an unbeaten 99-run partnership with Bradman. second only to Bradman. He ended his first full first-class season with 1234 runs at 68.55, partnering Sid Barnes at the top of the order at both state and international level.
Invincibles tour
Morris started the 1947–48 Australian season strongly, scoring 162 in his second match as New South Wales crushed the touring Indians by an innings ahead of the Tests. The selectors wished to trial other possible choices for the 1948 tour of England, Morris thus ended the series with 209 runs at an average of 52.25. and Morris ended the season with 772 runs at 55.14. For the first two Tests, Morris was paired with the recovered Brown, before the latter was replaced by Barnes. Morris was a key part of Bradman's inner circle in planning for the tour. Bradman had long harboured the ambition of touring England without losing a match.
Morris marked his first-class debut on English soil with a fluent 138 against Worcestershire, which was scored in only four hours and made him the first Australian centurion on tour. Morris found batting difficult for the first few weeks as he adapted to the alien batting conditions, reaching 50 only twice in his next nine innings with a total of 223 runs at 24.77; He rectified this, and success followed with 184 against Sussex in the final match before the First Test. Five more centuries before the end of the season.
Morris' Test form peaked in the series, heading the Test averages with 696 runs at 87.00, and he was the only player to compile three Test centuries. After scoring 31 and 9 in the First Test victory at Trent Bridge, Morris scored 60 against Northamptonshire, Fingleton called the innings "a pretty Test century in the grandest of all cricket settings"; the knock was noted for powerful, well-placed cover drives. Morris featured in century partnerships with Bradman in the first innings and Barnes in the second innings,
After being rested against Surrey, Morris' assault ended Goddard's hopes of Test selection. His innings was highlighted by his quick assessment of the pitch of the ball, followed by decisive footwork. Morris confidently went out of his crease when the ball was of a full length and rocked onto the back foot to drive and cut if it was short. By the time he was dismissed, he had struck 40 fours and a six. Fingleton said that "Morris flayed it [the home team's bowling] in all directions", while former English Test paceman Maurice Tate said "Tom [Goddard] is not used to batsmen using their feet to him ... the county batsmen diddle and diddle [shuffle about indecisively instead of quickly moving into position and attacking] to him and that gets him many wickets." Australia promptly crushed the locals by an innings.
The Fourth Test at Headingley in Leeds saw Morris at his finest; England started well with 496 in the first innings and took a 38-run lead as Australia replied with 458, Morris contributing only six. Morris and Hassett started slowly, with only six runs in the first six overs. When Laker was introduced to exploit the spin, 13 runs were taken from his first over, but only 44 runs came in the first hour, leaving 360 runs needed in 285 minutes. Morris promptly joined Bradman in the counter-attack, hitting three consecutive fours off Len Hutton's bowling as Australia reached lunch at 1/121. Upon resumption, Morris severely attacked Denis Compton's bowling. He reached the 90s just 14 minutes after the interval and hit another boundary to reach his century in just over two hours. Morris had added 37 runs in the 15 minutes since lunch. He struck 33 fours in 290 minutes of batting. Morris went on to score 196 in an innings noted for his hooking and off-driving before finally being removed by a run out as Australia reached 389. He scored more than half the runs as the rest of the team struggled against the leg spin of Hollies, who took five wickets. described by Fingleton as "one of the catches of the season". The innings took only 82 minutes and Morris promptly returned to his work as a salesman.
Morris was appointed Australian vice-captain under Lindsay Hassett for a five-Test tour of the Union of South Africa in 1949–50, narrowly missing out on the captaincy after a 7–6 vote by the board. He scored two centuries in six tour matches before the Tests. Australia looked set for their first Test defeat to South Africa, but an unbeaten Neil Harvey century salvaged a win. Morris returned to form by making 111 and 19 in the drawn Fourth Test in Johannesburg. In between, Morris struck two further centuries in the tour matches, against Border and Transvaal. He ended the series with 422 runs at 52.75. At this stage of his career, he had amassed 1,830 runs in 19 Tests at an average of 67.77, with nine centuries.
thumb|Morris played in Don Bradman's [[Testimonial Match]]
England toured Australia for the 1950–51 Ashes series and Morris started the season strongly. He scored 74, 101 and 78 not out as New South Wales won consecutive matches against Queensland. Morris then warmed up the Tests by amassing 168 for New South Wales against England. In contrast to his struggles in the Tests, Morris played for an Australian XI and New South Wales in two matches against England during this period, and scored 100 and 105. However, on his 29th birthday, Morris again fell cheaply to Bedser in a tour match and he found himself eating at table 13 ahead of the next Test.
Facing omission from the side, Morris recovered in the Fourth Test at the Adelaide Oval, where Hassett shielded him from Bedser. This helped Morris to settle in before batting for a day and a half to score 206, which set up 274-run victory and a 4–0 series lead, and was his seventh Ashes century, ranking him second only to Bradman at the time for Ashes centuries. Bradman described the innings as "faultless – a terrific Test double hundred",
Difficulties against the West Indies
The 1951–52 season saw the second tour to Australia by the West Indies. Morris experimented with his stance during the winter in response to criticism about his footwork when facing Bedser. Morris felt that his problems had arisen because he attempted to play excessively on the leg side. He opened his season by punishing the Queenslanders with a score of 253 in a Shield match and then scored 210 against Victoria. In the first of these innings, Morris had been ill but he struck 253 of his team's 400, with the last 50 coming in only 17 minutes of batting. His Test form was unimpressive though; he started steadily, with 122 runs in the first two Tests, which were won by Australia. Under board's regulations at the time, a replacement player needed the approval of the entire board. Since it was the weekend, some of the members could not be contacted by phone, Instead, his place was taken by a specialist bowler already in the squad. This left Morris leading an extremely unbalanced team with four specialist batsmen and Miller as the all-rounder. Morris had a long tail with wicketkeeper Gil Langley and five specialist bowlers all with batting averages less than 23, and was reportedly "in a state of shock". Morris won the toss and elected to bat on a sticky wicket. Because of a leak in the covers, one end of the pitch was dry and the other was wet.
After scores of 6 and 12 in the Fourth Test, he missed the final Test due to injury, ending an unproductive Test summer in which he managed only 186 runs at 23.25. The series was noted for Morris' difficulties against the spin duo of Alf Valentine and Sonny Ramadhin, who bowled left-arm orthodox and leg spin respectively. The pair was responsible for five of his eight dismissals on the tour. Morris did not play a match after the new year and ended the season with 698 runs at 53.69.
Australia's decline
<!-- Deleted image removed: right|thumb|Morris -->
The 1952–53 season started poorly for Morris. He was replaced by Keith Miller as state captain, despite having scored almost 700 runs at a fast rate in the previous Shield season at an average above 50, but it was speculated among the media that his penchant for wearing brightly coloured rubber-soled shoes could have upset the conservative administrators, Morris had led his state to two Shield triumphs, but remained national vice-captain ahead of Miller.
In spite of this, Morris started the new season consistently, scoring four fifties in his first five innings, including 55 and 39 in his state's victory over the touring South Africans ahead of the Tests. The ball ballooned to mid-off and Tayfield ran back and dived parallel to the ball's trajectory and caught it. He ended the series with 370 runs at 41.11 and took his maiden Test wicket in Adelaide, that of John Watkins. The series ended 2–2, the first Test series in Morris' career that Australia had not won. After the modest run-scoring of the previous three Test seasons, Morris warmed up in 10 lead-in matches that yielded a moderate return of 347 runs at 34.70. However, they were mistaken, and Morris could manage only 16 and 26 as the hosts' spinners cut down the tourists, while their Australian counterparts watched from the stands. Denis Compton pulled Morris' spin for four to seal an English win by eight wickets. This meant that the hosts regained the Ashes for the first time in two decades with a 1–0 triumph, and Morris thus tasted a series defeat for the first time in his career. Morris' batting was regarded by commentators as being more carefree than during the Invincibles tour. He took his second and final wicket in Test cricket, that of Alec Bedser, in the Third Test at Old Trafford. He made many starts, with 11 fifties, but was only able to capitalise and reached triple figures only once. The team was also hindered by tension brought on by a generational divide. The senior players, Morris among them, were retired servicemen who were drinkers, while the younger players tended to abstain from alcohol. The seniors frequently stopped the team bus to drink at pubs, leaving their younger colleagues disgruntled at the fact that the squad travelled at around .
Career twilight
With the retirement of Hassett following the 1953 England tour, the Australian captaincy was open for competition. No international cricket was scheduled until 1954–55, Nevertheless, the Australian selectors indicated that they were considering Morris as a captaincy option by making him captain of Morris' XI, which played Hassett's XI in a testimonial match. Morris' XI won by 121 runs. When England returned to Australia in 1954–55, Morris made his first Test century in almost four years during the opening Test at Brisbane. After English skipper Len Hutton won the toss and controversially sent Australia in, Morris made 153 to lay the foundation for a score of 8/601 declared and an innings victory. This included a partnership of 202 runs with Neil Harvey. The pair scored at a rate of nearly four runs per over, despite both players being repeatedly struck by the bowling of Frank Tyson, who was regarded as the fastest bowler of his era. Those were the only centuries made by Australian batsmen for the entire series, and Morris was covered in bruises; he deliberately used his body to fend off short-pitched balls rather than risk a catch.
In the Second Test in Sydney, Johnson and Miller were both unavailable due to injury; Morris led the team for the second and final time in Tests. The Australian Board of Control made the surprising move of appointing the young and inexperienced Richie Benaud as Morris' vice-captain for the match. Benaud, selected as a batsman, had scored just 195 runs at 13.92 in ten Test matches and was not a regular member of the team. Morris won the toss and elected to bat on a green pitch, Aided by a powerful tailwind, Morris had a poor personal performance, scores of 12 and 10, a disappointment amidst his team's defeat. He failed to pass 25 in either of the following Tests as Australia fell 3–1 behind with a hat-trick of losses and he was dropped for the Fifth Test, ending the series with 223 runs at 31.86. Aside from the First Test century, Morris struggled throughout the entire season, passing fifty on only one other occasion and managing only 382 runs at 31.83. He struck 157 against Jamaica in his first tour match, earning a recall to the Test team. He made 65 in the First Test victory in Kingston, Jamaica, before making his final Test century (111) in the drawn Second Test in Port of Spain, Trinidad. He made 44 and 38 in the Third Test win and then missed the Fourth Test with dysentery. With his wife's condition deteriorating over the following year despite the removal of a breast, The English commentator John Arlott, known for rarely praising an Australian, said that Morris "was one of the best-liked cricketers of all time – charming, philosophical and relaxed".
Later life
right|thumb|Morris (right) with Invincibles teammate [[Colin McCool at a function in 1979]]
With his wife's death imminent, Morris organised the couple's return to Britain with financial help from Hassett. He worked as a cricket reporter for London's Daily Express during the 1956 Ashes tour while his wife was reunited with her family for the last time. She died soon after they returned to Australia at the end of the tour, aged just 33. They had been married only 18 months.
In the wake of his personal loss, Morris, known for his sincerity and high personal values, received many offers of work and financial assistance. With a reference from English cricketer Doug Insole, Morris joined British engineering company George Wimpey for a few years. He then moved back to Sydney to take up a public relations job with security group Wormald International where he worked until his retirement in the late 1980s. He was appointed to the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust in 1965 and served there for 22 years, eight of them as deputy chairman. He was awarded the MBE in 1974 for services to sport. In 2001, he was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame alongside Bill Woodfull, the fourteenth and fifteenth players to be inducted. In 2000, he was named in the Australian Cricket Board's Team of the Century. Morris was named as an opening batsman in Bradman's selection of his greatest team in Test history. Bradman described him as the "best left-hand option to open an innings" and characterised his temperament as "ideal". and after Norman Gordon's death in 2014 he became the third oldest surviving Test cricketer.
Morris died on 22 August 2015 at the age of 93. His former Australian teammate Neil Harvey, the last surviving Australian member of the "Invincibles" tour, paid tribute to him as "one of the best players this country has produced" and said that "you wouldn't find a nicer bloke in the world".
Playing style
Morris was seen as an elegant and aggressive player, and is regarded alongside Clem Hill, Neil Harvey and Allan Border as one of Australia's greatest left-handed batsmen. Adept at playing against both pace and spin bowling, he was known for the variety of his shots on both sides of the wicket. Ian Johnson believed that Morris' idiosyncratic technique was a strength, as it disrupted any plans made by the opposition. Morris was particularly known for his fast analysis of the length of the ball, and as a result, he quickly and decisively moved forward or back. Morris was also known for his unselfishness, often sacrificing his wicket after being involved in mix-ups while running between wickets, and he had a reputation for not attempting to finish not out to inflate his average. who dismissed him 20 times in first-class cricket, including 18 times in Test matches.
Morris took only two wickets in Tests, one of them Bedser in 1953; After reaching Test cricket, Morris began smoking to relieve tension ahead of an innings.
!colspan=4| Bowling
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | Opposition
!| Matches
!| Runs
!| Average
!| High Score
!| 100 / 50
!| Runs
!| Wickets
!| Average
!| Best (Inns)
|- style="text-align:right;"
| style="text-align:left;" |
|| 24
|| 2080
|| 50.73
|| 206
|| 8/8
|| 39
|| 1
|| 39.00
|| 1/5
|- style="text-align:right;"
| style="text-align:left;" |
|| 4
|| 209
|| 52.25
|| 100*
|| 1/0
|| –
|| –
|| –
|| –
|- style="text-align:right;"
| style="text-align:left;" |
|| 10
|| 792
|| 46.58
|| 157
|| 2/3
|| 11
|| 1
|| 11.00
|| 1/11
|- style="text-align:right;"
| style="text-align:left;" |
|| 8
|| 452
|| 32.28
|| 111
|| 1/1
|| –
|| –
|| –
|| –
|- style="text-align:right; border-top:solid 2px gray;"
| style="text-align:left;" | Overall
|| 46
|| 3533
|| 46.48
|| 206
|| 12/12
|| 50
|| 2
|| 25.00
|| 1/5
|}