ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2022

October 22, 2022

Sam Curran

Perth Stadium

England

Post Match Media Conference

England 113/5, Afghanistan 112

Q. Sam, obviously well bowled. You've written your name into England history today; you've become the first English bowler to take a five-for in a T20. How does that feel?

SAM CURRAN: Yeah, I'm obviously not aware of that, but that's obviously great. But most importantly, a fantastic win for us. Great way to start.

Obviously we knew that Afghanistan were going to be that type of side that we're going to have to scrap really hard for those runs in that chase, as well. Yeah, the boys at the end took us over, which is good.

Q. Was it just about getting the win today?

SAM CURRAN: I think every game is about getting the win in a World Cup, but it was just, I think, the way the guys as a bowling group, we bowled. I thought we bowled really well. We obviously used the surface to our advantage, as well, and yeah, most importantly got the win.

Q. You seem to be really thriving in that death-bowl role. Do you enjoy it?

SAM CURRAN: Yeah, I think anytime you play and you take on those tough situations, that's when you want to be involved. Just trying to be as adaptable as possible, giving the bowling group loads of different options, and there will be some days where it doesn't come off, which I'm very, very aware of. Hopefully I can keep taking confidence, and all the other bowlers around me, we can all take confidence on that performance today, and we'll keep working hard for the rest of the tournament.

Q. How hard have you worked on your variations? You seemed to be nailing your yorkers today.

SAM CURRAN: Yeah, always trying to improve. Always just trying to get better each day. I guess I feel having had a consistent run in the side has really given me confidence, as well, going into game by game, and like I said, it's a great bowling group to be a part of. We're all very different, and yeah, just really enjoying the atmosphere in the group.

Q. Have you added a wee bit of pace, as well, and if so, how have you done that?

SAM CURRAN: I hope so. To be honest, I haven't really changed massively in terms of maybe it's just a bit of alignment stuff, but maybe it's in Australia they like to crank up the speed guns.

But no, obviously just trying to -- not necessarily trying to do that, but no, obviously it would be handy, but I think maybe the break just got a little bit stronger whilst I had my injury, and yeah, I think the break can come back refreshed and eager and ready, a lot of energy.

It's my first World Cup game, and obviously the energy when I woke up this morning to know that you're going to be playing in a World Cup gives you that extra bit of buzz, obviously having missed the last one.

Yeah, I think just trying to obviously -- these Australian decks, obviously my first time playing here, as well, so I'm really enjoying, I guess, the bounce and the pace, and you can obviously use the dimensions of the ground, as well.

Yeah, I'm just really enjoying it.

Q. You must also be really enjoying the fielding of your colleagues because that was exceptional today. Is that something you guys have spent a lot of time working on the last couple weeks?

SAM CURRAN: Yeah, I think so. I was saying earlier when I came off the field is obviously when Livvy took that catch, it almost set off that standard of we're here to really scrap for every run in the field.

Obviously a big ground like this, we try to be very aware of cutting down the twos and almost we risked getting hit over our heads a couple of times in just trying to stop those twos, which we've found can be a little bit annoying. Yeah, I think obviously we do a lot of hard work on our fielding, and it's going to be a massive factor in the tournament, I think.

Q. It's probably unwise to look too far ahead, but Friday's match against Australia looks quite attractive when you could kind of ruin their party, couldn't you.

SAM CURRAN: Well, exactly. Wednesday I think it's Ireland, which is obviously going to be another very tricky game. We've seen the way they played in the qualifiers. They're obviously a very dangerous team; got some match winners in there, as well.

We'll focus probably just on Wednesday's game, but like you said, there's no hiding that Friday is going to be a pretty epic game against Australia at the MCG, which I'm sure will be an incredible experience for all of us, and hopefully we can go into that game having won on Wednesday.

Like you said, if we win there, it will be obviously great for us, and I guess it might put us in a tricky position.

Q. For the team, how important is sort of the value of taking wickets in the middle overs especially?

SAM CURRAN: Yeah, I think wickets at any stage in a T20 game are very important. That's where you want to take wickets, in the powerplay, middle overs and at the end. I think every phase is really important.

Q. Just on the crowd, was it a little frustrating for you guys that the crowd wasn't huge today for such a good performance?

SAM CURRAN: No, not at all. I thought the crowd were really good actually in terms of the numbers that turned out. A lot of English fans; they were really actually loud. It's an incredibly big stadium, so not sure what the numbers were, but we felt like we were really supported, and thankful for all the fans and the Barmy Army. I presume they've got a few traveling, as well, so that was great, and hopefully we've got a few more traveling with us.

Q. Do you think that it took more than required for England to chase the target, and what were they lacking in the batting? How do you take this?

SAM CURRAN: Well, yeah, I think we knew it would be a tricky chase. They've obviously got some very experienced high quality bowlers. At the end of the day, we won in the end, and that's the most important thing. We knew that we had to respect the Afghanistan bowlers. They have some incredible bowlers out there. Yeah, I think the main thing is the win, so we're very happy.

Q. 10 days ago you took three wickets against Australia. Right now today you took five wickets against Afghanistan. Is that any type of thing, that Australian wicket surface suits you, or have you improved a lot on your bowling the past one year?

SAM CURRAN: I missed that a little bit, but I'm really enjoying my bowling and obviously contributing to the team. Yeah, hopefully we can keep contributing and enjoying our cricket and winning games.