Sam Curran, who could have had his Test career revival as early as the third Test against Pakistan, has been ruled out of the rest of the English summer with a groin injury. He was previously named as one of preferred candidate to take over Ben Stokes’ role in the team and England selector Marcus North was keen to have him in the side as soon as the final Test of the series.
That he was not part of England’s squad for the first two Pakistan Tests was to allow him a breather after what had been a busy summer so far. North said it would have been “unfair” to get him straight into a Test game after juggling between the Vitality Blast, India ODI series, and the Hundred.
A recurring problem
Curran’s groin issue has been the bane of his existence for a while now. He missed the IPL this year owing to the same reason as well. Having recovered from that, he returned to competitive cricket as a specialist batter only in the Vitality Blast, where he played seven games for Surrey.
He also played the white-ball series against India in its entirety, bowling in seven out of eight games. He would likely have been a starter for the entire Pakistan series as well had it not been, besides his busy schedule, for a niggle during the Hundred.
“Sam has had a really heavy workload this summer playing a tremendous amount of cricket, and during that time he’s been doing so with a couple of niggles, which you expect most bowlers do. But at this stage with a couple of niggles, we’ve seen he’s missed a game in the Hundred, we don’t feel physically he’s just quite right there,” North had previously said.
Surgery rules him out for the summer
Curran will undergo surgery on his groin on August 21, recovering from which would make him unavailable for selection across formats. Having last played a Test game in August 2021, the situation now was ideal for him to make a comeback.
England are on the lookout for someone they can rely on to extend their batting lineup while not missing out on a pacer, or at least a bowler. Dan Lawrence, who was called into the side for the first time in 2024, is another such example, and the list would not stay limited to these two.
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