Sam Curran excited about his return to England's red-ball team

England's all-rounder Sam Curran has been an exceptional player for the national team since making his debut in 2018. After performing well in the international circuit, he replicated the same in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Chennai Super Kings (CSK). 


However, Curran was ruled out of the 2021 edition of the T20 World Cup due to a lower back injury. He then missed the entire IPL 2022 while still in recovery mode. 


The southpaw last featured for England in August 2021 against India. However, after undergoing a stiff rehabilitation program with Surrey medical team, Curran returned to play the 2022 edition of the County Championship Division One. He amassed 328 runs in four matches but went wicketless. 


His performances in the ongoing T20 Blast 2022 has been terrific, wherein he is the best all-round performer for Surrey with 185 runs and 10 wickets in five appearances. With these performances, he was named in the upcoming three-match ODI series against the Netherlands this month. 


Curran shared his thoughts on England's impressive win in the 1st Test against New Zealand at Lord's. He reckoned that watching the players return to their top form was exciting and termed it as a fantastic win. 


"It was massively exciting to watch them, a fantastic win and a game that had everything," he told the PA news agency.


The all-rounder added that Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum are positive with their approach, which aligns with the people's expectations. 


"Stokesy and the new head coach Brendon McCullum are two positive guys and that's how most people like to see their cricket played."


The 24-year-old cricketer hopes that he will make a comeback in the group and help the English team to have a successful summer.


"There will be no backward steps under Ben and that's the way I like to play too. Hopefully, it's the start of a successful Test summer for the guys and, hopefully, I'll be back around the group."


He looks forward to working under head coach McCullum in the red-ball format. 


"I've never worked with Brendon but I've met him a couple of times, he seems a really good guy and I'm really looking forward to it."


In the end, Curran concluded that he is excited about the Netherlands trip, where he would be making a comeback after a hiatus of 10 months.

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Adil Rashid still optimistic about return to Test cricket

After making his debut in 2009, England leg-spinner Adil Rashid made great strides in international cricket across all formats of the game. However, a shoulder injury forced him to reconsider his red-ball cricket career. He last featured in the whites for England against West Indies in January 2019 and went wicketless, giving away runs at an economy of 4.5. Since then, he has not featured in any of the first-class fixtures for the Yorkshire team also. Rashid has given a hint on returning to the longest format of the game, and revealed that the newly appointed England red-ball coach Brendon McCullum had an interaction with him. The 34-year-old spinner reckoned that he is not yet given up on his Test career and still dreams of appearing in red-ball cricket in the near future. "Brendon's reached out to me - just a text to check how things are. I've not closed the door on Test cricket. I've not retired or anything like that. It's something that's still there. It's everyone's dream to play Test cricket and I'm no different," Rashid told Daily Mail. Rashid thinks that the partnership of McCullum with England red-ball captain Ben Stokes is exciting and drives him to return to the oldest format. "It's always exciting when something new comes along. Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes both like to be positive and attacking. That drives me on and it's very exciting," The experienced spinner gave an update on his shoulder injury and said, "been quite good now for a while, though I have to stay on top of it." However, he thinks, "a lot else has got to happen" if he has to play Test Cricket again for England. Earlier this year, Yorkshire coach Ottis Gibson had also opined on Rashid's comeback to red-ball cricket. The next round of County Championship 2022 will take place in September, and it will be interesting to see if Rashid opts to feature for Yorkshire. Currently, the selectors have not found their attacking spinner for the red-ball cricket, and the likes of Jack Leach and Matthew Parkinson are yet to deliver their best performances. With 60 wickets in 19 Test matches at 39.83, Rashid will hope to return and bring the luck with him for the Stokes-led team.