The Surrey and England player missed much of last year with a stress fracture of his lower back and will focus on white-ball formats indefinitely going forward
England and Surrey's Tom Curran is taking an indefinite break from red-ball cricket.
The 27-year-old has taken the decision for "my body and for my mental health" he said in a statement.
A stress fracture to his lower back forced him to miss nearly seven months of action, including the first half of the county summer.
He returned for the end of Surrey's Blast campaign, The Hundred and played his first County Championship matches since April 2019 in September.
Curran struck a maiden first-class century in the first of those games against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road, but will not be available for their title defence this summer.
Curran has played 61 times for England across formats (LINDSEY PARNABY/AFP via Getty Images)
More recently, he has been representing Desert Vipers in the inaugural ILT20 and is bound for the Pakistan Super League starting next month. And his focus will continue to be on the limited-overs game in 2023 and beyond.
"The last couple of years have not been easy for me," he said. "I have had a lot of time and this isn't a decision that I've taken lightly.
"Some choices in life I don’t think you will ever be 100 per cent sure and this is definitely one of those. But where I find myself at this exact moment, I feel like it is the right decision for my body and for my mental health.
"I'm definitely not ruling out playing red-ball cricket again in the future, and I feel like I have unfinished business in this format for both Surrey and England.
"But until I can feel 100 per cent committed and confident in my body to be performing day in and day out for Surrey in the County Championship, I feel that putting all my time and focus into our Vitality Blast campaign this year is the right thing to do."
Curran returned from injury in the Blast and The Hundred (Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
The oldest of the three Curran brothers, Tom has played two Tests, 28 one-day internationals and 30 T20Is for England but has been unused since 2021.
His 61-match first-class career has seen him take 195 wickets and score 1,367 runs.
Director of cricket Alec Stewart added: "Obviously when you lose a player of Tom's quality from your County Championship squad it is a blow, but I have spoken to him at length about his decision and understand why he has made it.
"He has suffered from injuries in recent years and if this can help strengthen his body and keep him on a cricket field more regularly over the coming years, I fully support the decision.
"I look forward to seeing him back in May for our own T20 season."
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