Sam Curran excited for World Cup after shining in tight win against Sri Lanka
The Surrey man hit 58 from 54 balls to lead his side’s recovery in the 12-run victory on Tuesday.
Sam Curran is thrilled to be contributing to England wins with bat and ball after underlining his all-round capabilities in the 3-0 T20 series victory over Sri Lanka.
The Surrey man claimed England’s second T20 hat-trick in the opening match last week and hit 58 from 54 balls to lead his side’s recovery in the 12-run win on Tuesday.
England were 60 for six on a used wicket in Kandy before Curran dragged them to 128 for nine and their spinners claimed nine wickets in a T20 for the first time to seal a series clean sweep.
England fly to Mumbai on Wednesday ahead of Sunday’s T20 World Cup opener against Nepal and the 27-year-old, who was named player of the tournament when England won the trophy in 2022, will again do so full of belief.
“I take confidence massively and it’s just great to be back playing for England. I’m extremely excited for the next couple of weeks,” Curran said.
“I know my role with the ball is going to be quite flexible and I’m pretty happy with that. I guess just really pleased to get some runs as well and get this series win.
“To win away from home 3-0, that’s the lowest score we’ve defended as well which is pretty cool to say.
“Fly to Mumbai tomorrow so straight on that plane, excited to get stuck into our first game against Nepal.
“I guess we take one game at a time and it’s a very exciting time for every player going into the World Cup and hopefully we can have a good couple of weeks and go really far into the tournament.”
Curran is a regular in the top order for Surrey and for franchise teams around the world and has been given the chance to bat at six for England in this series.
It is an opportunity he has relished, adding: “I guess I do that a lot for the teams that I play for.
“I love my batting, I love my bowling so I think to be a good, top quality all-rounder, I know I just have to keep doing a lot of work on both my batting and bowling.
“Whenever the team needs me, whatever position that is in, I’m hoping I can perform for England throughout this World Cup and hopefully be sitting here in similar scenes to 2022.”
Jacob Bethell took four for 11 and Will Jacks three for 14 as they backed up lead spinner Adil Rashid and Liam Dawson in a brilliant display to bowl Sri Lanka out for 116 – recording their lowest successful defence in T20 cricket.
“I think our spinners have bowled well throughout. I guess we know Adil’s our main strike bowler alongside Dawson. You see how Jacksy and Beth are bowling exceptionally well,” Curran added.
“I was loving it. I was standing on the boundary and the ball was turning massively and the rate was going up. There’s lots of missed chances, a lot of good bowling so I think the spinners can take great confidence from that.
“Our spinners stood up to defend 130 and it’s an amazing achievement.”
