England cricketer Sam Curran is excited for the Oval Invincibles to put on a show for big crowds in today’s The Hundred fixture at The Oval.
The England and Surrey cricketer is part of an Invincibles side that has had a mixed start to their campaign, with one defeat and one victory.
Captained for the first time by Jason Roy, who has been struggling for runs recently, Curran is hopeful the home side can make this afternoon’s fixture against the Northern Superchargers two wins in a row.
Curran said: “We obviously lost our first game which was a really close game.
“There was a bit of rust where we’re just getting used to our formations in the team and things like that.
“The way we played the other evening in Cardiff was how we want to play.
“We put a good score on the board, Will Jacks played really well, and guys were standing up at different times.
“Hopefully against the Superchargers there’ll be another chance to put on a show here at our home ground, The Oval, so really looking forward to that.”
The all-rounder has been used across the middle order of the Invincibles, batting at three against London Spirit and five against Welsh Fire.
He said: “We’ve got a pretty strong batting line up so all of the players can bat at different positions, and I think we’ve utilised the left right combination with myself, Sam Billings and Rilee Rossouw.
“Tomorrow obviously might be a little different as we’ve lost a couple of players to the Lions game (vs. South Africa), but we’ve got guys who will come in and who will hopefully step up.
“It’s a great opportunity for guys who probably haven’t played in The Hundred before so it’s going to be an exciting time for them and hopefully, we can help them on the field with the big crowd and the sunshine in London.”
Curran’s opposition, the Northern Superchargers, have had a similarly mixed opening to the campaign and will be equally in need of the win.
Last year, Roy’s unbeaten half century was not enough as Harry Brook’s 47 not out helped the Superchargers beat the Invincibles in a low scoring match in Leeds.
Discussing the opposition, Curran said: “There’s no weak teams in The Hundred, there’s some very strong teams and all teams have got match winners in this format.
“In this format it takes one or two players to have a day out and hopefully that’s someone on our side.
“We’re probably in the same situation so it’s a pretty big game in the tournament.”
Curran missed the Ashes campaign, last winter, and was unable to take part in the T20 World Cup because of injury.
Asked about his fitness and a return to the England test side, he said: “I had a big injury in the winter and the ECB have been very cautious with me which has been a good thing.
“I’ve obviously built my way back slowly through playing County Championship as a batsman and then bowling a few overs here and there and building up my body getting used to the demands.
“Obviously I’ve now played a full Vitality Blast and an English white ball summer as well with some 50 over games so I’m building up nicely and am massively ambitious to still be involved in the red ball set up.”
The Hundred runs throughout August with the final on the 3rd September at Lords.
Oval Invincibles v Northern Superchargers will be live on BBC Two and Sky Sports, with the men’s game starting at 15.00 and the women’s at 18.30.
For more information on the Hundred, click here.
Featured Image: Photo by Alex Pantling – ECB/ECB via Getty Images
