Sam Curran feels losing his England place allowed him to “reset” and go from being an outcast to gradually gaining the faith of head coach Brendon McCullum.
Until last month, Curran had conspicuously never been selected in any format by McCullum, who believed the all-rounder had not kicked on since his unlikely leading role in England’s 2022 T20 World Cup win.
Dropped from both white-ball sides in January, Curran was told his route back in was as a batter in the top-six to complement the left-arm seam bowling with which he initially made an impression for England.
Curran rose to the challenge in the Vitality Blast and The Hundred this summer to merit a T20 recall, keeping his spot for the tour of New Zealand, where he excelled in Saturday’s series opener with an unbeaten 49 to salvage England’s innings before rain in Christchurch led to an abandonment.
“I sit here now and I’m probably thankful for kind of a reset,” Curran said. “I’ve experienced such highs in my career and it was about slowing down fractionally and getting back to enjoying it.
“I met up with all the people that I needed to and it was pretty simple, to be honest. It was quite refreshing (to be told) ‘get runs, get wickets and you’ll make your way back in’. I think that’s nice.
“Part of it was very clear what I needed to do. And in the past, it’s sometimes you can not know where you are at.
“I earned my way back in, which was quite a nice feeling, and fingers crossed I can keep going and just try to win (games) with both bat and ball. That’s my goal.”
In the two years after winning player of the tournament at the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia, Curran averaged a bloated 43.84 with the ball in 23 matches with an inauspicious economy rate close of 9.79.
On two occasions, he was belted for 30 in a single over by West Indies’ Rovman Powell and Australia’s Travis Head, but as well as improving his batting, Curran has worked on an ultra-slow ball.
Curran at his fastest is in the low-to-mid-80mph range but his ‘moon ball’ drops below 50mph and makes him an option to bowl at all phases of an innings, not just in the powerplay and at the death.
“It’s about being creative and trying to do different things so opposition (batters) are wary,” Curran said. “I don’t really do anything massively different with the way I bowl it.
- 1st T20, October 18, Christchurch – match abandoned
- 2nd T20, October 20, Christchurch
- 3rd T20, October 23, Auckland
“The game’s moving so fast, you can see the scores in all the leagues and all the T20s that you have to be adaptable, that’s part of my time out (of) the side. I was trying to reflect and where I can get better.”
Curran could unleash the variation in Monday’s second T20 at the Hagley Oval, where he led England’s recovery from 81 for five at the weekend to 153 for six, albeit after being dropped twice and overturning being given out lbw, before rain had the final say.
This three-match series is their penultimate assignment before the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka early next year and Curran is eager to show he belongs in England’s first XI.
“I’ve had experiences of winning World Cups and winning games with England,” he added. “It’s makes you even more hungry to try and do that stuff again.”
