The Hundred: Sam Curran delighted with local feel to Oval Invincibles' early signings

NICK FRIEND AT THE HUNDRED TEAM REVEAL: Oval Invincibles had a choice between Curran and Surrey captain Rory Burns – both of whom hold red-ball contracts with England – as their resident Test player, but plumped unsurprisingly for the allrounder

Sam Curran will certainly feel at home when The Hundred gets underway next year – the England allrounder was one of three Surrey players selected by his ‘local’ franchise at the new competition’s team reveal.

Oval Invincibles had a choice between Curran and Surrey captain Rory Burns – both of whom hold red-ball contracts with England – as their resident Test player, but plumped, perhaps unsurprisingly, for Curran, who spent the early stages of this summer with Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League.

Burns, therefore, will act as London Spirit’s Test player, though neither man will be available for selection for the majority of the group-stage matches if they are involved in England’s Test series against Pakistan, which clashes with the latter part of The Hundred.

Curran admitted, however, that he was thrilled to be based on his home turf alongside his brother, Tom, and Jason Roy – both selected by Tom Moody as his local icon players.

“For me personally to be alongside some of those fellow Surrey players is really exciting – familiar faces, familiar ground,” he explained at the tournament’s launch.

“It’s going to be an amazing tournament. The new format brings new theories and new tactics and we have to adapt our games differently, like we do in T20. Who knows what’s going to happen with things like five-ball overs? I’m really excited.”

By virtue of the selections of Roy and Curran’s older brother as local stars, a host of players from both Surrey and Kent will head into the main draft, including England wicketkeepers Sam Billings and Ben Foakes, as well as World Cup winner Liam Plunkett.

“The local players are pretty much going to be playing in their local areas," he said. "I’m pretty sure the Oval sells out pretty much by itself – we call it the best pre-drinks in town!

^{Sam Curran, Tom Curran and Jason Roy will all take their Surrey connection to Oval Invincibles}

“When people come to the ground, it’s really exciting. We’re really lucky at the Oval in terms of crowds. In the Blast, we sold out almost every game. I’m sure it’ll be the same with The Hundred. If you look at Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard – all these big names in the draft, if they don’t attract the big crowds, I don’t know what will because these guys are pretty special.

“You look at the draft and the names that have been put in are really exciting; you can learn from the best in the world, guys who’ve played international cricket for a long period of time,” he added.

“Fingers crossed we get Aaron Finch at the Oval so I don’t have to bowl at him! Hopefully we get the big-hitters. The thing with franchise cricket is that you play against the best in the world. You hope those big-hitters are on your side.”

Of the novelty factor of the format change – the competition will include five-ball overs, with a change of ends after 10 deliveries and the potential for a final 10-ball over, Curran acknowledged that players may be forced to tinker and develop their own games in order to thrive in the new competition.

“Nobody has played it before, we’re going to be the first people to play this form,” he said. “You never know – two or three years down the line, there might be a Hundred in India or Australia. It might be the new format. We’ve seen it with T10 in Dubai.”

If selected in England’s Test squad for next summer’s Test series against Pakistan, Curran – and his England colleagues – would only be available for the first three games of The Hundred, as well as finals day.

And while the tournament has been designed to sit in its own block, England’s Test players will have to move from the game’s longest format to its polar opposite. Curran, however, is unconcerned.

“It’s our job,” he reflected of the need to adapt between skillsets. “We have to adapt to different formats and different situations. If you look at the likes of Root, Stokes and Woakes, they went straight from a World Cup into an Ashes series and did really well. It’s about adapting.”

Curran only played the final Test, playing a key role as England came back to draw the series, offering a sense of what might have been.

“It was nice to be involved in terms of the Ashes and it was nice to play at the end but you'd rather be playing,” he said.

“That's why I was playing for Surrey during the Ashes, because you'd rather be doing that than waking up every morning knowing I'm not going to be playing in a game.”

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