Allrounder reveals details of phone call with Brendon McCullum as he plots international recall
Matt Roller05-Feb-2025Player of the tournament in a World Cup win. More than 100 England caps across all formats. Back-to-back Hundred trophies, one as MVP. Million-dollar IPL contracts. A walk-on role in a County Championship three-peat. At 26, Sam Curran has already achieved more than most cricketers manage across their lifetime.Yet as he heads towards the peak years of most sporting careers, Curran is experiencing a lull: for the first time since he burst into international cricket nearly seven years ago, he finds himself outside of England’s squads in all three formats. There is little doubt that he will be back at some stage, but life on the fringes brings an uneasy novelty.Curran has kept his head down since he was left out of England’s white-ball squads for their tour to India and the subsequent Champions Trophy, with his focus on the ILT20 in the UAE. But he has decided the time is now right to address it, telling ESPNcricinfo from Dubai that he will be “banging the door” down until he is back in the international set-up.Related
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“There were loads of different reasons I didn’t get picked,” Curran says. “More so the T20s, but I naturally felt I should have been in both teams. But they’ve obviously got their plans and you can look at the way they’re lining up now… The 50-over side is going to be similar to the T20 line-up, and they wanted the same structure of the top six.”At the time of his omission, Curran spoke to Brendon McCullum – whom he is yet to play under – and valued the clarity he received. “He just said: ‘You’re not in right now, but go away, score runs and take wickets.’ I respected it a lot: sometimes you just get the easy: ‘It’s not the end.’ But it was pretty clear what they wanted me to do.”Yet there is a sense that McCullum might consider his style of bowling – left-arm swing rather than seam, and speeds closer to 80mph than 90mph – an awkward fit in his England teams. His first white-ball squads contained a battery of right-arm quicks, and he overlooked Curran last summer when Ben Stokes’ hamstring tear had seemed to open up a return to the Test side.It prompted Curran to reveal his fear that he no longer “fit the mould” that England were looking for – less through his personality than his physical attributes. With McCullum in charge across formats and making abundantly clear that his preference is for a level of convergence in selection, the route back is unlikely to be entirely straightforward.But England’s 4-1 defeat to India served to highlight the value of variety in any T20 side, however expensive Curran has proved in the past two years. It means that twelve months out from another T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, the unlikely star of England’s 2022 triumph is confident that he can force his way into the side.Curran says England’s 2022 T20 World Cup win “feels quite a while ago”•AFP/Getty Images”Everyone knows things can change quickly,” Curran says. “I’m the type of guy that will go away and do well and improve. It was just a case of them going with the top six they want, and backing the five bowlers they’ve chosen. [McCullum] told me to keep banging the door down and I feel like I’ve come here and done pretty well. I’m in a good headspace.”Curran has taken the setback as well as could be hoped but the two years since England’s T20 World Cup win have not been without their challenges. He was dropped early in their disastrous defence of the 50-over World Cup and his form has oscillated between extremes – as is the case for most players whose calendars are dominated by T20.”It feels quite a while ago,” he reflects on England’s win in Australia. “There were some tough times for the team [after that]. It’s just been inconsistency, being in and out a lot of the time. That was the big message from above: go away and show consistency. I feel like hopefully I’ve done that, and will keep doing that.”
“I’m driven by winning trophies… If I can finish the tournament with loads of runs, a lot of wickets and winning a trophy, I feel that’s all I can really do”Sam Curran on playing in the ILT20
Curran is playing for Desert Vipers, Avram Glazer’s franchise, in the ILT20 and his performances helped them finish top of the group stages. He has taken six wickets with the ball but his main role has been with the bat: used in his preferred role at No. 4, he is their second-highest run-scorer and has walked off unbeaten in three successful run chases.Curran’s batting record in T20 internationals makes for ugly reading – an average of 14.24 and a strike rate of 124.47 – and it is increasingly clear that England have used him out of position. He has had no impact when used as a finisher but can control an innings from the middle order: his only T20 half-century for England came in his only innings at No. 4.If McCullum continues to favour high pace, consistent run-scoring may yet be the best way to get noticed. With England’s middle order struggling badly against spin, Curran’s status as a left-hander should play in his favour: he could feasibly be used as the one lower-tempo batter in a line-up of power-hitters, as Ben Stokes was during their 2022 success.Consolation came through the identity of the winning bidders: Chennai Super Kings, his old team. “I was buzzing,” Curran says, laughing off the significance of the price tag. “Chennai was where I kickstarted my IPL career. As soon as I was picked up, I had 10-15 messages from people who were there four years ago.”He will finally get to experience their home crowd this year, with his previous stints coinciding with Covid-enforced neutral venues. “I’ve played there as the away team, and you see the love for the players. It also helps when you have the habit of winning and great consistency with [Stephen] Fleming and those guys who have been there since the start.”A short break in the meantime will allow Curran a rare opportunity to take stock, and to keep his career in perspective. “Cricket – especially T20, let’s be honest – is very fickle,” he says. “You can get a good ball, or two bad ones, and it goes the other way: that’s what happens in T20. But for now, I’ve just got to keep banging the door down.”