Tom Curran to guard his closest secrets from Australian colleagues on IPL duty

JAMES COYNE: England’s T20 slower ball maestro will be working alongside Steve Smith and Andrew McDonald during the competition but will be keeping his cards close to his chest

• IPL 2020 SQUADS
• IPL 2020 FIXTURES

Tom Curran is excited to be re-entering the global melting pot of the Indian Premier League – but will be careful not to give away too many of his skilful variations with two T20 World Cups on the horizon.

The Surrey allrounder has emerged as one of England’s supreme death bowlers in T20 internationals, and whether batsmen guess his options at crunch time could decide whether they can succeed in their aim of holding World Cups across both limited-overs codes.

Curran, in his first press conference for his new IPL team Rajasthan Royals, admits that some of his trade secrets will be kept away from the prying eyes of teammates and coaches – something which enters more into focus on the eve of major tournaments or series.

The new Royals head coach, Andrew McDonald, is also Australia’s senior assistant coach, while several team-mates could well feature in rival teams in the 2020 T20 World Cup: Steve Smith and Andrew Tye with Australia; India’s Sanju Samson and Mayank Markande; David Miller with South Africa; and West Indies’ Oshane Thomas.

“You’re not going to be giving away all the tricks,” said Curran. “If I’m bowling in the nets to some of the Indian guys, I’m not going to be showing them all the tricks.

“You’ll be aware of it. If you have it in the back of your mind that I’ll throw in the odd curveball [bluff] in there.”

This will be Curran’s second spell in the IPL, after five games for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2018. He says the broader aim of players entering the IPL – besides the money – is to improve their games by learning from the best. There is no doubt that the ECB’s relaxed attitude on English players entering the IPL played a part in the World Cup success last summer. Curran has enjoyed success in the Big Bash with Sydney Sixers and now joins the growing England contingent at Rajasthan, alongside Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and the injured Jofra Archer.

“I don’t think you chat weaknesses with loads of people anyway,” says Curran. “There’s a few people who you might… people you trust.

Rajasthan Royals in no rush to replace Jofra Archer as hope remains that England bowler could yet feature

“In general I think it’s a huge benefit of having Jos, Stokesy and these guys there… I think you learn a lot too. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a coach. Speaking to Jos I’ll learn about batting. You just need some of the players on the international stage – talking and trying things with them.

“It’s a good point, to be honest. It’s about filtering information. There are things that people say… some people you’re going to listen to, and you almost build up that relationship over time from working with someone.

“To be just thrown into a new tournament, if you pitch up and you play your first game within a few days of being there if a coach comes and gives you some information you take it with a pinch of salt. You don’t want to be making massive technical changes mid-tournament, I guess. It’s a valid point. It’s different for everyone.

“It’s more about developing, chatting… ‘what does Steve Smith do in this situation?’, something he’s good at, that I’m improving for me. If Jos speaks to this person. You don’t go round chatting weaknesses anyway. Yeah, it’s more about developing and getting better, which we players focus more on.

“It’s an unbelievable standard there. A great experience for me. These are sold-out games and it’s proper loud. So it’s mirroring as close to the biggest games on the international circuit. It will be a great experience. If guys go there and do well they’ll take a lot of confidence from that. That’s what it about.”

Cricket Australia’s decision last October to allow McDonald to combine his roles at the Royals and with Birmingham Phoenix in The Hundred, while also serving as Justin Langer’s senior assistant coach, was deemed something of a first.

^{Tom Curran's maiden Test wicket came in Melbourne when he bowled Steve Smith - now his Royals teammate}

As things stand, McDonald could well be first in line to replace Langer as head coach whenever that time comes. Curran says he expects that working with one of the upcoming coaches in world cricket, who impressed both at Leicestershire and Victoria, will be “a really good experience”.

Of McDonald holding multiple roles across international and franchise cricket, Curran said: “It seems to be the way things are going now. I don’t think it will make too much of a difference. It will be great to work with him there and he’ll be fully involved once he gets to India.”

It could be a similar situation for Chris Woakes and Jason Roy at Delhi Capitals, whose head coach is the former Australia great Ricky Ponting. He was Australia’s assistant coach for the 2019 World Cup and could feasibly hold some kind of portfolio with them in future.

In any case, with so much TV and video footage flying around, there is very little new under the sun these days. Curran said that his own brother and Surrey team-mate Sam, who will be playing his second season for Kings XI Punjab, joked that he knew every ball Tom was going to bowl in England’s T20I series in South Africa.

“We laughed about it earlier. We’ve played so much together now. To play against each other will be fun.

“Sam said when he was watching the T20s in South Africa he was predicting what I was going to bowl every ball – he says he was getting it right! He said ‘If I face you, you’re going!’ so I’m looking forward to that if we do play against each other.”

Tom takes great confidence from his part in the exciting T20I series win in South Africa – especially keeping his nerve in the last over of the second match at Durban, which England needed to win to avoid a series defeat.

^{Andrew McDonald, the Australia men's assistant coach, will lead Rajasthan Royals}

Curran was defending 15 runs from six balls, which became five from three once Dwaine Pretorius whacked off-stump deliveries for six and four. Curran pinned Pretorius lbw with a yorker off the penultimate ball, then unfurled a slower ball to new man Bjorn Fortuin, which he could only lap to Adil Rashid on the edge of the circle.

“That’s cricket,” reflected Curran. “It can go the other way really quickly. That game was really big for me. At the start of the over I should have been defending that anyway, but with three balls to go they were heavily on top.

“Looking back on it I was really proud, actually – the fact that at that moment I had no choice but to execute. I managed to do that. That was pleasing personally. I took a bit of confidence from that and will do moving forward – a few reminders when I’m in those moments, or just playing in general.

“They’re fascinating conversations in those moments, aren’t they? Jos [Buttler] was there, Morgy [Eoin Morgan], CJ [Chris Jordan]… everyone will have their opinion and are weighing up the options.

“I bowled two good yorkers where, if he [Pretorius] tries to stand there and whacks it, if it’s on the money it’s still a good option.

“I just thought with a slower ball he has to actually hit it, whereas a yorker he could nick it for four. I just went with my gut and Morgs trusted me.”

The IPL returns to Sky Sports for the 2020 season where you can watch the Rajasthan Royals’ star English contingent of Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes and Tom Curran