WA all-rounder Hilton Cartwright stokes Lance Morris fire ahead of Sheffield Shield decider

If Lance Morris’ bruising spell to Hilton Cartwright in the WACA Ground nets on Tuesday is anything to go by, the WA speedster is primed for a massive Sheffield Shield final this week.

The right-arm tearaway hasn’t played at any level in nearly two months, carrying the drinks for Australia’s away Test series against India instead, so is understandably raring to go against Victoria starting on Thursday.

Before his call-up to the Australian squad during the home Test summer, Morris was among the leading wicket-takers in the shield with 27 wickets at an average of 18.4.

He’s still remarkably in the top 10, despite only playing five of a possible 10 games.

“I’ve got about three bruises on my body from the first five balls I faced,” Cartwright said.

“Whether that’s frustration or eagerness, I’ll let him decide but he’s certainly firing them down because I didn’t even pick up the first ball.

“Lance is champing at the bit after his stint with the Aussies to be able to come back and play for us, it’s a huge bonus for us to be able to exploit their batters and be able to have that energy.”

Morris isn’t the only likely addition to WA’s XI as they hunt a clean sweep of men’s titles for a second straight season with fellow seamers Matthew Kelly and Joel Paris in the mix.

Kelly, who’s enjoying a career-best red-ball season with 29 scalps at 15.89, was rested for last week’s loss to the Vics with the home final in Perth already secured.

Left-armer Paris has been battling back soreness but The West Australian understands he’s more likely than unlikely to play after getting through a strong bowling session at the weekend.

“That’s the advantage we had being able to rest two of those guys for last week’s game, it wasn’t a must-win for us,” Cartwright said.

Pace duo David Moody (finger) and Charlie Stobo (quad) have both been ruled out of the final after playing last week.

Cartwright was looking at WA’s home form as a whole, winning four out of five matches at the WACA Ground this season, rather than just their one loss to the Vics last week.

He was one of the shining lights in that disappointing loss in a little over three days, taking 3-14 in a raring bowling stint to go with 82 and 27 with the bat.

“We’ve just got to trust that we’ve done well over the entirety of the season, we’ve won four out of five games out here so we’re going to take a lot of confidence out of that going forward,” he said.

It will be former Australian all-rounder Cartwright’s first final of the summer after missing out in the Marsh One-Day Cup decider victory over South Australia at the WACA Ground with Mitch Marsh, Ashton Agar, Josh Inglis and Marcus Stoinis all available.

“Obviously I was disappointed to miss out in the one-day final, but we had an unbelievable team,” he said.

Victoria will welcome back captain Peter Handscomb and off-spinner Todd Murphy to their squad from Test duties in India.

In-form left-hander Sam Fanning has been added to WA’s squad after a recent second XI century.

Squads

WA: Sam Whiteman (captain), Cameron Bancroft, Hilton Cartwright, Sam Fanning, Cameron Gannon, Aaron Hardie, Matt Kelly, Lance Morris, Joel Paris, Josh Philippe, Corey Rocchiccioli, Ashton Turner, Teague Wyllie.

Victoria: Peter Handscomb (captain), Scott Boland, Ashley Chandrasinghe, Travis Dean, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Jon Holland, Campbell Kellaway, Cameron McClure, Todd Murphy, Fergus O’Neill, Mitchell Perry, Matt Short, Will Sutherland