Morris wants to give South Africa 'a full go'

South Africa lost a seventh recent Test cap in Dane Vilas to a Kolpak deal on Friday, to further deplete their bench strength, but have been given a reassurance that allrounder Chris Morris is not considering joining the list. Morris played two Tests in early 2016, which would make him eligible for a deal, but as he makes his comeback from a knee injury that sidelined him for three months he is focused on trying to play international cricket for the foreseeable future.

"There's been a lot of noise about Kolpak from everywhere. There haven't been any offers or anything for me but there was just a lot of noise around it. I said to Errol Stewart the selector, I have committed myself to Cricket South Africa. I want to play cricket for my country. I am going to give it a full go," Morris said at a sponsor event in Cape Town on Tuesday, where he was part of a batting master-class that involved hitting targets in order to earn money for the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Morris was the only one of the three internationals - David Miller and Temba Bavuma were also in attendance - who managed to find the 20-run target that required a clean strike straight down the ground and it looked as though his time away had not cost him his eye or his aim. He admitted a round or two of golf helped in that regard. "That was my first question to our physiotherapist - can I play golf? He said, 'If an 80-year-old can play golf, you can play golf.' That was my saving grace because it kept my hand-eye co-ordination there."

The injury, which was a tear in the knee tendon that resulted in Morris losing a lot of muscle in the leg took three months to heal. Since then, Morris has only played one match, a first-class fixture for Titans against Lions in Benoni two weeks ago, but it proved a good workout. Morris bowled 39.1 overs and took five wickets in what was "a good test for my fitness level" to prove his readiness for an international comeback.

But it's not in the long-form that Morris returns and it is quite difficult to see how he may find his way back there. His two Tests came at a time when South African cricket was struggling with major injuries to two of their premier pacemen - Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander - and even though Steyn remains sidelined, and Morne Morkel has joined him on the bench, they have unearthed depth that has pushed Morris further down the queue and perhaps into a career as a limited-overs specialist, although he does not want to see it like that just yet.

"I will always look to be playing Test cricket. It's what I want to do and what I want to play because for me, that's the best form of cricket," Morris said. "I will always be trying to play Test cricket but if I don't play again, so be it. I will never stop trying to get there."

Morris applies that approach to everything. After a significant amount of time out of the one-day side, he knows his place there is not guaranteed, although with South Africa in the advanced stages of planning for the Champions Trophy, his presence in the current squad suggests he will be taken to the tournament he made his debut in four years ago.

"It will be quite nice to be in that Champions Trophy squad but if not, there are guys that have put their hands up and deserve to be there. If it's not my time, it's not my time," he said. "If I am not selected in the Proteas squad, so be it. I will just play for the Titans and try and fight for my place back."

That's exactly what Kyle Abbott, Rilee Rossouw, Stiaan van Zyl, Hardus Viljoen, Simon Harmer, David Wiese and Vilas decided against doing. Abbott cited limited international opportunities and a constant fear of being dropped as being one of the major reasons for him signing with Hampshire.

Like Abbott, Morris is not always an automatic pick for South Africa. Unlike Abbott, Morris has certainty elsewhere because he has been retained by his IPL franchise - following a US$1 million deal in 2016 - which may have something to do with Morris being happy enough with his lot for now.

"It's up to the person. It's not for me to judge what decision they make in their career. That's the decision they make and they go with it and stick with it. For me, it's a personal thing," he said. "I like to look at what you want to achieve from a career. I'm sure those guys would most probably want to achieve more, but opportunities come and you have to look at your future."