Sam strains at leash to get started
SAM Curran feels England are ready to rumble at the T20 World Cup, despite Reece Topley emerging as an injury scare ahead of their first match against Afghanistan.
Topley rolled his left ankle on a piece of advertisement foam on the boundary during some catching drills in Brisbane on Monday afternoon so did not feature in the final warm-up against Pakistan.
England announced Topley “will be assessed throughout this week” and are hopeful of a swift recovery, but they do have Tymal Mills and Richard Gleeson on standby if the issue proves to be more serious.
It is an unwanted headache for England as they travel to Perth for Saturday’s opener, with Topley becoming an increasingly dependable figure in the white-ball ranks since the turn of the year.
The 6ft 7in left-arm seamer has taken 17 wickets in 16 T20s in 2022 and can bowl anywhere in an innings, with an economy rate of 7.8 impressive given he operates mainly in the powerplay and at the death.
Curran and David Willey are England’s other left-armers in their 15-strong squad so they are unlikely to risk Topley, who has overcome multiple stress fractures in his back during his career.
Curran is expected to be in England’s XI against Afghanistan, irrespective of whether Topley features, and believes they are tracking well after an improvement in results recently following a disappointing summer.
England recorded a 4-3 win in Pakistan and then thrashed the same opponents by six wickets in a low-key practice match on Monday, having also beaten World Cup hosts and defending champions Australia 2-0.
“We’re definitely ready now,” Curran said. “We’re feeling like we’re almost not peaking but we’re playing good cricket.
“We’re really excited, hopefully with a couple of good training sessions in Perth, come the weekend we’ll be good.”
While England go into the World Cup in buoyant mood, Curran warned against complacency.
“It’s a T20 format, anything could happen,’’ he said. “Afghanistan are extremely skilful, they’ve got world-class players who can win games by themselves. It’s going to be a really tough opening game.”