‘Death’ bowler Curran is aiming at batsmen’s toes and a World Cup call-up
Yorker specialist hopes to cement place in West Indies, reports Tim Wigmore in Barbados
‘It’s the hardest ball to hit and so it’s the hardest ball to bowl’
As he is preparing to bowl in the nets, Tom Curran can often be found putting down a couple of shoes. “I visualise those as the batsman’s feet and try and knock the shoes,” he explains. The aim is to ready himself for bowling yorkers at the crux of a match. “And then, at the same time, when bowling against the batters, just trying to execute and be hard on myself in the nets, put myself under as much pressure as I can.”
In Twenty20 and one-day-international cricket, Curran’s USP is his dexterity bowling at the death. He has a plethora of carefully concealed slower balls and, most significantly, the ability to repeatedly peatedly produce one of the hardest est deliveries in the game: : the yorker, the delivery ery with the smallest est margin of error. . Curran has a strong g claim to being g England’s best death h bowler, and took five for 35 to bowl England to victory ry in the inaugural gural international at Perth’s rth’s new stadium last year. ear.
“It’s ’s something I feel gave me the opportunity to make my T20 debut for England,” and,” he says of bowling at the death. eath. “If I can keep improving oving on that it’s a big string to my y bow.
“If you can execute a yorker in white-ball e-ball cricket it’s obviously the hardest est ball to hit so it’s one of the hardest est to bowl. I’ve been trying to work on that constantly, keep nailing ng it and always trying to improve. ove.
“You ou judge yourself on performances rmances in the game don’t you? You can hit them 10 out of 10 in the e nets and then go for 30 in the game.” ame.”
Two wo months before England and name their World
Cup squad, it is almost eerily y settled. Only two questions tions remain unanswered swered before e England must submit their squad on April pril 23.
The e first is who will be selected ted as the third spin option. n. The choice e is between
Liam Dawson and Joe Denly. The latter – who is predominantly a batsman, and one capable of batting anywhere in the top six – is likely to be preferred, as borne out by his presence in the Caribbean. Though he played the last two Tests in the West Indies and has not played a one-day international since nine games way back in 2009, Denly’s pedigree is stronger in 50-over than first-class cricket. He will get the chance to show as much at some stage during the five ODIS in the West Indies.
The second question, a little more complex, is who England will select as backup pace bowlers. Their first-choice pace attack is likely to comprise Chris Woakes, Liam Plunkett and David Willey – though the round-robin nature of the World Cup, with each side guaranteed nine games, means that rotation is guaranteed.
Effectively, the decision over the make-up of the pace attack boils down to two from three of Curran, Mark Wood and Jofra Archer – who has never played for England, but will qualify in time for the World Cup.
So Curran, despite a strong start in the first 11 games o of his ODI career, knows there is much more at stake than avengin avenging England’s Test-series defeat.
“In the back of you your mind you want to get into the s squads and you want to be playin playing but I don’t get too caught u up in it,” he said. “It’s out of my control so I’ll be foc focusing on what I can do.”
Curran is i fresh from a successful stint in the Big Bash – though his team, the Sydney Sixers, lost in the s semi-finals without him him. “It’s bittersweet. You You’re leaving to play for your country but I’d been there for the w whole competitio competition, had built relatio relations with my team team-mates and w wanted to be th there to help th them win. But in international cri cricket is the real really big stage.”
Th That will never be mo more so than during the English summer summer, when England c come to meet West Indie Indies and eight other sides in the ODI World Cu Cup.
“Ev “Everybody’s excit excited about it. It’s g going to be amazin amazing to have the World Cup on home soil,” Curran says.
“It’s not spoken ab about every day but it’s hard not to th think about it as a player or coach, to have those things in the back of your mind. Hopefully it’s a memorable mem few months”