England all-rounder Sam Curran recently expressed his disappointment at being overlooked as a replacement for Ben Stokes in the Test squad following the latter’s injury. Stokes has been out of action following his injury in The Hundred.
Curran, seeing an opportunity, believed that the open spot in the Test squad could have been his chance to break back into the England side. However, he was neither given a chance in the 3-match Test series against Sri Lanka nor was he picked for the Multan Test against Pakistan.
The last time Curran played red-ball cricket for England was in Leeds in August 2021, during the Test series against India. Since then, he has struggled to regain his place in the Test team.
“I’ll be totally honest, when Stokesy got injured, I did probably think that was my way back into the Test team,” he said. “A couple of weeks back, I had a meeting with Keysy [Rob Key, director of cricket] just to get a bit of understanding of where the group is, and how I see myself getting back into the Test side,” Curran told talkSPORT.
“Being a young player who experienced Test cricket so young, I feel like I had an advantage to know what it’s about, to know what winning a Test match is, and the grind and the grit and attitude that you need â€æ so I was a little bit gutted. Selection is selection, but I thought that was my way back into the side at the minute,” Curran added.
Despite being out of the Test squad for 2 years, Curran is still optimistic that he will get a chance once again to prove his worth in the format. He also emphasized how eager he is to meet the criteria needed for Test selection.
“The way the teams are being set up now, guys are getting picked for certain skills and a bit out of the unknown…There’s actually nothing you can do about it. If you fit what they’re looking for, you’re great. But if you don’t, it actually might not be an ability thing,” Curran said.
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