The method behind Sam Curran’s last-over heroics
N
epal need six off one delivery to upset the applecart and beat England at the T20 World Cup. Can Sam Curran once again execute the yorkers (or a low full toss) to chart a jailbreak for England? The answer to that question came down in the affirmative.
The sequence for the final offering went as follows – Lokesh Bham cleared the front leg in order to thump one over long-on or mid-wicket. Meanwhile, anticipating the move, Curran could have gone for a delivery wider of off. Instead, he bowled to a packed on-side field and nailed the picture-perfect yorker on a middle and off-stump line. Replays narrated a story in itself – The ball would have landed bang on the left foot of Bham, if he had not connected his shot and pinched a single. Curran had turned a seemingly lost game on its head with an amalgam of supreme skills, hard work, the left-arm angle and nerves of steel.
How does he do it? It is obvious that after partaking in many T20 leagues around the globe, Curran has the wisdom of experience and the clarity of thought to nail the toe-crushers. To bowl those yorkers, it also demands precision. An indicator that behind the scenes, Curran must have trained hours together on landing the weapon in his own practice workshops. Perhaps there is something else for your eyes to zoom in on? There is also a school of thought that certain actions allow the pace bowlers a fraction of a second more when the back foot lands to watch the feet of the batter.
Josh Hazlewood is probably one of the pacers who has the above-mentioned trait. Curran and India’s own Hardik Pandya could also be added to the list. Just to illustrate the point further, pore through Curran’s hat-trick in the recent T20I in Sri Lanka. While bowling to Maheesh Theekshana, the right-hander had moved across to the off-stump, with an idea of accessing offerings wider of off-stump.
Sitting on a sofa, one can envision Curran following the right-hander and not bowling a wide yorker. That Curran was able to think through the batter’s trigger in a fraction of a second indicated that he had watched the feet of the batter with the eyes of a hawk. He followed it up by not providing any width with a yorker from round the wicket and cleaned up Matheesha Pathirana to achieve the milestone.
After the Nepal-England game, Sam Curran had this to say on watching the feet of the batter. “I weirdly thought of the 2016 final when Carlos got hold of Stokesy,” Curran observed. “I was thinking: ‘Well, if I execute he’s not going to hit me for six.’ I just watched his feet and thankfully executed. Those games are great to win but wow it would have been a horrible one to lose.”
On a flat pitch, Curran’s lack of pace may hinder him to some extent. But with time, he seems to have become England’s insurance policy while bowling in the slog overs. On the big stage, he once more delivered to ensure that the rest of his teammates wouldn’t have to spend sleepless nights.
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