Sam Curran is looking back to move forward. Two days before England meet India in yet another T20 World Cup semi-final – this one at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on 5 March – the left-arm seamer was happy to rewind to Adelaide 2022 and the ten-wicket romp that set up England’s title win.
“Everyone’s saying when are England going to play the perfect game, that’s (Adelaide semis) our perfect game,” he said on Tuesday, moments before the squad’s afternoon training hit-out. “So if we can get anything close to that, that’d be great … I don’t care if we play a perfect game or not. I just want to win and get to another World Cup final.”
England have not come close to that level this tournament. Seven matches in, Harry Brook’s side have lurched rather than cruised, losing to West Indies at this same ground and relying on three straight Super Eight victories to book a knockout spot. The numbers say Will Jacks – four Player-of-the-Match gongs – has been the standout, with Brook himself stacking up runs, including a decisive century against Pakistan. Yet the collective impression is of a team still searching for top gear.
Curran, Player of the Tournament in 2022, insists the camp is calm. “Everyone worries about each individual’s form so much,” he said. “The fact is we have been winning. So I don’t think the guys are actually too fussed about personal form … It’s exciting as a group that we haven’t fired.”
That upbeat read masks one obvious concern. Jos Buttler, captain in 2022 and still the senior voice in the room, has just 62 runs in seven knocks, his last outing a duck against New Zealand. On Tuesday he spent the best part of two hours in the nets: first with stationery feet, working on hands, swing and head position, then graduated to regular throw-downs and finally live bowlers. The routine looked painstaking rather than panicked, though a big score would help quell the outside noise.
India, meanwhile, have romped through the competition with familiar flair, and a full Wankhede – not always the friendliest venue for touring sides – awaits. Curran knows the soundtrack. He also remembers how quiet Adelaide Oval became four years ago when Buttler and Alex Hales mowed down 169 without loss.
“That was a massive Indian crowd as well,” he recalled. “So we take a lot of positives.”
Plenty has changed since then: Ben Stokes is long gone from T20s, Mark Wood is on rehab duty back home, and Brook now leads. Yet the basic brief is unchanged – strike early, hold nerve, and hope the batting finally snaps into sync. England still have the tools; what they have lacked is that complete, fuss-free night.
Whether the perfect game is still in them will be obvious soon enough. A semi-final tends to expose truth. If Curran and company can stitch it together, the Wankhede roar may just fade into the Mumbai night.
