Career Highlights
Morrison, who bowled right arm medium pace but was a left-handed tail-end Batsman first appeared for his local side, Hutt Valley, in an away game at Nelson in the Hawke Cup (25–27 December 1951).
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 ). In his next game he repeated his fine form, taking 5-60 v Auckland at Eden Park and scoring 33 not out with the bat. He finished the season with 22 wickets at an average of only 16.68.
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. Ultimately, it was a disappointing season: Morrison finished well down the bowling averages, with just 16 wickets at nearly 30 apiece.
1955-56 was a better season overall, with 7-68 v Central Districts being the stand out performance, 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) that he recaptured his early-career form.
Read more about this topic: Bruce Morrison (cricketer)
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