Thanks to his thunderous start to the 2017-18 summer, Orange City firebrand and vice-captain Ed Morrish leads the race for Orange District Cricket Association’s highest individual honour going into the Christmas break, and he’s some way in front too.
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With representative cricket also playing a role Morrish has worked his way to 667 points in the opening half of the season, 135 in front of Cavaliers skipper Matt Corben in second, with maroons’ all-rounder Josh Doherty a further eight points back in third.
Daryl Kennewell, the reigning cricketer of the year and Centrals skipper, is fourth on 488, with Orange City and Western Zone quick Jackson Coote rounding out the top five on 477.
When you look at Morrish’s numbers it’s not difficult to see why he’s topping the charts, the hostile left-armer leads the ODCA wicket-taking list with 16 scalps at 8.9 and has picked up one more in the Royal Hotel Cup.
He’s also taken six for Orange. Combined, he’s taken 23 wickets at a miserly 11.95.
Most impressive though, is his strike rate.
This season, Morrish has taken a wicket every 18 balls – an unbelievable statistic – and he’s also been more than handy with the bat.
He’s Orange City’s third leading run-scorer and is averaging 31.
None of that will convince him he should be at the top of the list though.
“I can’t believe I’m leading, I mean, I feel like I’m playing pretty good cricket but some people must be playing some bad stuff for me to be up there,” Morrish laughed.
“I don’t really think it’s something anyone thinks about, and the only thing that really matters for me is winning games and enjoying my cricket with Orange City.
“If I’m bowling well, contributing and taking wickets, even better.”
There’s no doubt he’s been doing that, more so than in previous seasons too.
At this point last summer, across all cricket, Morrish had taken 13 wickets at 22 and in 2014-15 – he had a year in Dubbo in between – he’d managed just five scalps at 53.2.
“I haven’t changed anything technique wise or anything like that, I think a lot of it is just down to me really, really enjoying my cricket this season,” he said.
“It’s been really good, we’ve got a great bunch of guys together at Orange City and we all enjoy playing together, which really helps.”
Morrish has also taken on the Warriors’ captaincy while regular skipper Craig Rogan is sidelined with a back injury, and he said that’s played its part in his early-season form too.
“I think it has, I think that responsibility has made me stand up and be counted a bit more,” Morrish said.
“It’s been good for me as a player I think. Obviously it came with Craig’s injury and you never want to see anyone hurt, but I’ve really enjoyed the captaincy and I will until we welcome Craigy back.
“I’m hoping my role doesn’t change too much when he is back.”
Going forward, Morrish said his mind won’t be on the MVP gong. Not at all.
“Definitely not, obviously it’d be a great thing to win but all I really care about is winning games and hopefully winning the competition with the City boys,” he said.
The ODCA season resumes on January 6, the Warriors face Kinross in the first 50-over on-day game of the summer.
The ODCA’s statistics and player of the year list is expected to go behind closed doors midway through the second half of the season.
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
