England captain Eoin Morgan hails fighting spirit of Curran brothers as they help level series

There was some surprise when Eoin Morgan unveiled a team sheet containing both Curran brothers for England’s must-win ODI against Australia on Sunday.

They came in for the stiff Mark Wood and the struggling Moeen Ali, giving England’s attack a callow, stretched look. Tom Curran has performed admirably for England in white-ball cricket since 2018, but Sam is very much a work in progress in the limited overs formats. Many would select the unfortunate David Willey ahead of him as England’s left-arm option.

But Morgan was not worried, because in the Currans he knows he has talented cricketers with a competitive spirit that allows them to adapt and elevate their performances in sticky situations. And so it proved as they helped conjure a sensational series-levelling victory.

First, Tom bailed them out of a hole, leading the fightback from 149 for eight with 59 balls remaining to set a target of 232. In a stand of 76 with Adil Rashid, Curran swiped 37 from 39 balls — having been scoreless after 13 — in a game where no specialist batsman struck the ball fluently.

Then either side of Chris Woakes and Jofra Archer’s brilliant four-wicket burst in the middle overs, Curran produced two accurate, intelligent five-over spells that built pressure.

His fine figures of 10-2-28-0 did not do him justice. Morgan compared his accuracy to Woakes as he filled the overs once bowled by Liam Plunkett.

With Woakes and Archer bowled out, Sam was handed the unfamiliar role of bowling at the death, and did the job superbly. In the first over of his second spell he dismissed Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, then kept the pressure on to get Adam Zampa too.

Both men thrust themselves happily into unfamiliar roles. Tom is known for his trickery at the death, while Sam is known as a new ball swing bowler. But he is more than that, and both are hard to pigeon hole because they simply want the ball. Sam particularly has an innate, intangible sense of timing. Morgan puts it down to that competitiveness.

“This might be underselling them but it’s the truth,” he said. “Every time they come in, there is a level of competitiveness more visual than any other player — that’s the character of the Curran brothers.

“Both of them are still very young, but they seem to take everything as it comes. Their skill level is as high as anybody.”

For an England team taking early steps in a new era, these were highly encouraging performances with the pressure dialled right up from players aged 25 and 22. Both are men England can mould.

For Wednesday’s decider — which will be played on a fresh pitch — Wood should be available again, which would likely see the younger Curran make way. If he does, he goes following his best ODI display yet.

A characteristic of this team — as they proved again yesterday – is that they are never out of the fight. And that is the Currans in a nutshell.

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