In 1905 his bowling picked up and he started to improve his run total, but it was 1907 before he managed his first 5 wicket innings.
First-class cricket was suspended during the First World War and resumed in 1919 when Morton was charged with looking after the "bad boy" Billy Bestwick who had been allowed back into the Derbyshire team.
[1] Morton found form again in 1920 scoring a century against Leicestershire and taking 8 for 37 against Somerset and achieving nine 5 wicket innings in all, but none of this helped Derbyshire win a single match.
Bestwick, who had just received a collection for taking 10 wickets in an innings, passed some of it on to his colleague Morton.
Morton was a right-arm off-break, and medium pace bowler and took 981 first-class wickets at an average of 22.77 and a best performance of 9 for 71.
He was a right-hand batsman and played 623 innings in 357 first-class matches with a top score of 131 and an average of 19.32.