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Morris enjoys facing death-over pressure

Cape Town - South Africa all rounder Chris Morris says he relished the pressure that comes with batting low down the order, and also enjoys bowling at the death.

Morris has become one of the Proteas' go-to all-rounders in the shorter formats, for his big-hitting ability when he comes in as low as number nine, and is often given the ball in the last few overs of a T20 as well.

Having done well for the Delhi Daredevils in the recent IPL, where he was one of the top buys, he is now with the national team for the ODI tri-series with Australia and the West Indies in the Caribbean.

When asked by the Cricket Australia website whether he enjoyed the pressure placed on him by expectations, Morris said: "Yes, I like to embrace it.

"You feel pressure in every part of cricket and I put pressure on myself because I want to perform for my team. To win a game of any sport, pressure will always be there and you have to learn to cope with it.

"At one point, it will be unbelievably intense, a big moment, and you have to get the win. So I put myself under pressure because I have got high standards.

"I have been able to win a few games for my team. So, I know I have been able to perform after putting myself under pressure. Once you realise that, you deal with it in different ways.

"I enjoy it and as a kid, I always dreamt of playing in pressure situations and coming though."

The pressure is not only external, coming from a team's need to win, but also from himself. He says he makes sure to focus on all formats, and wants to show he's worthy of his Test place too.

Morris, who has two Test caps, added of his 'T20 specialist' tag: "The only way you can do that (get rid of the tag) is if you perform in other formats. It is as simple as that.

"And fortunately back home, I have had quite a nice run in four-day and one-day cricket. But we all know the dream is to play Test cricket. So I put a lot of pressure on myself to perform in four-day cricket.

"It is quite a simple thing, and if you can bat in the longer format, you can back yourself to bat in other formats quite easily."

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