A pacer with a dangerous outswinger, Danny Morrison was a key bowler for New Zealand in the late 80's and early 90's. He was also armed with the yorkers and slower cutters, which made him doubly effective in ODIs.

Morrison's champagne bowling display in Tests arrived when he collected 7-89 against Australia in the Trans-Tasman second Test at Wellington. During his halcyon days, Morrison employed his whippy, slinging action to lift the ball from a length as well. By the 1992 World Cup, Danny had transformed into New Zealand's bowling spearhead - role he stuck to till the twilight of his career.

On the batting front though, he was a pure non-batsman, so much so that he was dubbed 'The Duckman'. Out of the 48 Tests he played, he was dismissed run-less on 24 occasions. Ironically, his final hurrah stemmed from the bat when he held fort for close to three hours in the company of Nathan Astle to help New Zealand pull off an unlikely stalemate versus England in the first Test at Auckland.

It turned out to be his last Test and he was axed from the team. Morrison though continued to ply his trade for Auckland until his retirement in 1997. Post retirement, he forayed into commentary. His charisma and effervescence has made him quite a popular commentator.

By Deivarayan Muthu