Sam Curran has delivered decisive overs for England during a tense group stage at the T20 World Cup, closing out matches that threatened early elimination. He defended 10 in the final over against Nepal, then halted Italy’s late push with the ball at the death on Monday.
Italy required 30 from 12 balls after Adil Rashid conceded 21 in his final over. Curran removed Grant Stewart and controlled the closing overs, sealing a top two finish in Group C.
Curran has added late runs with the bat across the tournament and reasserted his value after an inconsistent period following his player of the tournament award in England’s 2022 title run in Australia.
He spent much of the following year outside the England set up and had not featured under head coach Brendon McCullum before returning on the back of strong domestic form late last summer.
He has introduced a mid 40mph slower delivery and produced consistent spells in India while England have delivered uneven collective displays. Jamie Overton said: “He’s shown when the pressure is on, he stands up. That’s the sort of cricketer he is.
“He’s had a difficult sort of 12 months but he’s come back and it’s great to have him back.”
Curran finished with three for 22 against Italy in Kolkata. Overton returned figures of 4-1 and 18-3, including two wickets in the final over of England’s 24 run win.
England’s top order remains under scrutiny. Jos Buttler and Phil Salt have combined for 114 runs in the tournament, with averages of 13.25 and 15.25. Buttler holds a leading record in England’s white ball formats. Salt has four centuries in 56 T20 internationals, a tally exceeded only by Rohit Sharma of India and Glenn Maxwell of Australia.
Overton said: “We know the skill of Jos and Phil at the top of the order, they’ve shown in the last two or three years how destructive they can be.
“They’ve had not the best games but we know they’re going to come good and when they do, it’s going to be really explosive and we can’t wait to watch it.”
England have moved to Sri Lanka ahead of the Super 8 stage after winning recent white ball series there, including a 3-0 T20 sweep earlier this month. Opponents are likely to include Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Pakistan. Overton expects improved performances with a change in conditions.
Overton added: “There’s some good feelings going back there and fingers crossed we can put in a couple of good performances.
“We’ve still got a few things to work on, we know we’re not quite where we need to be.
“We’ve got a saying amongst the group – no one’s going to be braver than us, the way we’re going to go about playing our cricket. It might not work every time but we’re going to give everything we can.”