It will be two years this month since Sam Curran played his last Test match, a small quirk of the not-that-new regime that a cricketer seemingly so suited to the brief is yet to get a hit under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum.
In theory, Curran is about as Bazball a player as they come, a genuine match-winner, an attacking bowler with a cliched golden arm and an excellent white-ball hitter to boot. But circumstances have conspired against the all-rounder, who was on his way back from a stress fracture of the back when the revolution began last summer and has, understandably, not yet found a route back into a team on a roll.
“I chatted with the physios and stuff about where my body was but the way it worked out from that injury was that I was always focused on trying to get through to the T20 World Cup [where Curran was player of the tournament in England’s triumph last year],” he explains. “Then I came back [from the IPL, this summer] and with the schedule I only managed to play one four-day game for Surrey.”
And so it was a watching brief for the Ashes, a series the left-armer has, like the rest of us, been “glued to” for the past seven weeks, right from Zak Crawley’s first ball whack for four through to Monday’s finale and Stuart Broad’s dream send-off.
“I was very lucky when I came into the Test side, Broady and Jimmy [Anderson] had been guys I’d looked up to growing up,” Curran says. “It’s very cool now that Broady’s finished that I get to say I played with him. He’s a great guy, very easy to talk to as a young player in terms of learning.”
There are undoubtable similarities between Curran and the young Broad, both renowned as fierce competitors with the knack for turning a game. The 25-year-old, though, laughs off the comparison, his 47 wickets in 24 Tests not quite in the same ball park as Broad’s 604 in 167.
“I think Broady’s earned who he is,” he laughs. “[Him and Jimmy] are legends of the game with such skill and longevity, which I obviously strive to achieve as well.
“It’s going to leave a big gap that, I guess for other players, it’s an opportunity to step up.”
Despite his absence from the Bazball era thus far, Curran is being touted as one of those with the potential to do so ahead of the winter’s tour to India, the country against whom he enjoyed a sensational Test breakthrough in the home summer of 2018.
With that trip six months away and the small matter of a 50-over World Cup defence to come before then, Curran’s focus for now is on white-ball cricket but he says a Test return remains a prime ambition.
“Yeah, of course,” he says. “I just love playing cricket, love playing all formats. I guess I’ve just got to keep knocking down the door, whether I’m playing at Surrey, Oval Invincibles, wherever it is. Just keep enjoying my cricket and those kind of things just happen, don’t they?”
Invincibles are back in action tonight, starting their third Hundred campaign with a cross-city derby against London Spirit at Lord’s. The men’s tournament has struggled to attract the biggest overseas names this year, with Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan pulling out of his gig at Trent Rockets on the eve of the competition in a major blow. However, Curran is among a number of England white-ball stars looking to find form ahead of next month’s series against New Zealand and Ireland, which act as the final preparation for Jos Buttler’s side before their World Cup defence.
“There’s no excuses for lack of preparation or chances to stake our claim,” he says. “We’ve got a nice run-in, there’s no interruptions really. That’s a massive ambition, to win a 50-over World Cup with England.”
Oval’s core group remains largely from 12 months ago — including players such as Jason Roy, Will Jacks, Sunil Narine and Sam Billings as captain — though with the exciting addition of South Africa’s Heinrich Klaasen, who Curran calls ‘one of the best batters in the world’.
“The first two years, the Hundred’s been a bit of an unknown but I think this year is probably a proper defining series for all teams,” Curran adds. “As players we aspire to win trophies wherever we play.”
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