Curran interview: Broad has left an enormous hole… it’s an opportunity to step up
I
t shall be two years this month since Sam Curran performed his final Test match, a small quirk of the not-that-new regime {that a} cricketer seemingly so suited to the transient is but to get successful underneath Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum.
In idea, Curran is about as Bazball a participant as they arrive, a real match-winner, an attacking bowler with a cliched golden arm and a very good white-ball hitter in addition. But circumstances have conspired towards the all-rounder, who was on his method again from a stress fracture of the again when the revolution started final summer season and has, understandably, not but discovered a route again right into a workforce 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 transient for the Ashes, a collection the left-armer has, like the remainder of us, been “glued to” for the previous seven weeks, proper from Zak Crawley’s first ball whack for 4 via 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 younger Broad, each famend as fierce rivals with the knack for turning a sport. The 25-year-old, although, laughs off the comparability, his 47 wickets in 24 Tests not fairly in the identical 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 depart an enormous hole that, I suppose for different gamers, it is a chance 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, in fact,” he says. “I simply love enjoying cricket, love enjoying all codecs. I suppose I’ve simply received to maintain pulling down the door, whether or not I’m enjoying at Surrey, Oval Invincibles, wherever it’s. Just maintain having fun with my cricket and people form of issues simply occur, do not 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 possibilities to stake our declare,” he says. “We’ve received a pleasant run-in, there is no interruptions actually. That’s an enormous 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 little bit of an unknown however I believe this yr might be a correct defining collection for all groups,” Curran adds. “As gamers we aspire to win trophies wherever we play.”