England will appeal for obstructing the field if it happens again, says Curran
Sam Curran has suggested that England will sharpen their killer instinct once the T20 World Cup begins, saying that although they allowed Matthew Wade to get away with a clear case of obstructing the field in the first Twenty20 against Australia on Sunday they would not be so forgiving if there was more on the line.
In the 17th over, with the match having entered its decisive phase and with the game in the balance, Wade sent the ball straight up into the Perth sky off the top edge of his bat, before throwing out an arm to stop Mark Wood reaching it on its way back to earth. But Jos Buttler chose not to appeal, explaining later that he had not seen the incident because he had been focusing on the ball, and that he felt it best not to ignite controversy so early in their time in the country.
“Maybe in a World Cup game it might have been different,” Curran said. “When you play a game versus Australia and at a World Cup, your competitive edge will be out there, and there will be wanting to win at all costs. In the moment, you’d hope they take it upstairs and the best decision is made, because Woody bowled a nice ball there and he probably deserved a wicket and he [Wade] probably got a little bit in the way. Probably the right thing is what Jos said – we’ll be here for a long time, it’s a bit of fun, but maybe it’ll be different further down the line.”
Last Wednesday, when England trained for the first time since arriving in Australia, was also the anniversary of Curran being officially ruled out of the last World Cup with the injury the nation’s bowlers seem to dread but rarely avoid, a stress fracture of the lower spine. That experience appears to have made him more grateful for his place in the current squad, but also less keen to become too excited about what the next few weeks might bring.
“I don’t want to talk about the World Cup too much because I missed the last one when I was very close,” he said on Tuesday, the team having relocated to Canberra ahead of Wednesday’s second game against Australia. “Missing that was gutting. I didn’t play much redball cricket this summer due to the body, and the main focus has always been trying to get fit for this. Thankfully we are here and I’m really excited. I’ve heard a lot about World Cups and they’re great to be involved in.
“I get excited about playing but at the same time it’s a scary thing to get excited, because I missed the last World Cup and we’re nearly there but there are still two more games. I’ve probably just got to keep trying to put in some performances and if it works, it works. If it doesn’t I’ll keep smashing away. I’m just really excited to be around a World Cup, having missed one last year. It’s a very strong team. I’m sure whoever plays [in the first game] against Afghanistan will be delighted but it’s going to take the whole squad to win the tournament.”
Curran’s injury forced him to confront some new challenges this summer, most obviously when, still unable to bowl, he played as a specialist batter at the start of the County Cham
pionship. He duly averaged 75.66 across six innings, a massive improvement on his first-class career average of 30.05. In those half-dozen knocks he only once failed to reach at least 50, with his finest effort a career-best 126 against Kent in June.
“I had the opportunity at Surrey of using that batsman’s mindset,” he said. “In the England side it will be a bit different because of the strength, and my role will be coming in down the order and trying to go from ball one. At Surrey I’ve taken great confidence going up the order and that’s helped my game, but my role will be naturally different with England. My role is just to focus on finishing and getting better at that. I just want to try focusing on performing in the games and hopefully the rest can just take care of itself.”