English bowling all-rounder Tom Curran wants to make a good comeback to secure his spot for the upcoming 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, which is just more than seven months ahead.
The 23-year-old has played his last international match in this March. Then he featured in the IPL 2018, which was his maiden IPL stint. After that, he missed the international matches for his injuries. Now, he is fit and ready to make a return to the international cricket during the upcoming five-match away ODI series against the hosts Sri Lanka, starting from October 10.
Talking about his return, Tom told Sky Sports, “I came back from the IPL and picked up a couple of niggles when we were playing Australia so that was very frustrating but at the same time you get time to reflect and set goals. It’s hard to think too far ahead, but it’s also hard not to think of the World Cup so it will just be about small steps – get in the side for the first ODI, push on in this series, take that through to West Indies and then next summer.”
During England’s tour in Australia and New Zealand early in this calendar year, Tom impressed with the ball in hand. In the Perth ODI, Tom bagged five wickets and helped his team to clinch a remarkable victory.
He said, “There was that five-wicket haul against Australia which was almost ‘right, you can do it at this level’ – when you make your debut there will be nerves, more about doing it on this stage – now it’s about making it permanent in the side so I’m one of the first bowlers on the team sheet.”
In the Sri Lanka tour, Tom probably has to take an important responsibility in the death overs. While it is the monsoon season in Sri Lanka, Tom is aware of facing the challenges in this condition.
He said, “It’s not ideal but we’ve just come off the back of a full summer so it’s not like we are short of game time. We had a couple of good net sessions in that heat, it’s not ideal in terms of overs in the feet but it is what it is. I bowled for 45 minutes on one of the sessions which is just over six overs and it was tough but at the same time you do adapt. It won’t get worse than the first session.”
Tom also feels proud of his younger brother Sam Curran’s recent success in Test cricket. Making international cricket debut in this year, Sam recently won the Player of the Series award during the five-match home Test series against the no.1 Test ranked team India for his impressive all-round performances.
The elder brother said, “It all happened so quickly. One day you are playing in the garden together and the next thing you are watching him do it in a Test match. I’m so proud and hopefully it’s just the start.”
