Sam Curran acknowledged that England’s players were
relieved to have avoided injury during their match against Bangladesh in
Dharamsala, despite playing 48.2 overs of fielding on a “poor”
surface, according to skipper Jos Buttler.
Despite Jonathan Trott’s remarks that Mujeeb Ur Rahman
was “lucky” to avoid a serious injury when his knee jammed into the
soft, sand-based turf, the outfield was rated “average” for
Bangladesh’s victory over Afghanistan when it was cleared by the ICC’s
independent pitch consultant Andy Atkinson and match referee Javagal Srinath
prior to this match.
During England’s 137-run triumph on Tuesday, players
on both teams were careful when fielding in the deep, with several deep
fielders choosing to escort balls to the boundary rather than diving and
running the danger of getting hurt. Despite their typical enthusiasm for
fielders to chase every ball to the boundary, England’s coaches cautioned
players to use caution when playing in the deep.
Three more matches in this event are scheduled to be
played in Dharamsala: Australia vs. New Zealand on October 28; India vs. New
Zealand on October 22; and Netherlands vs. South Africa on October 17. Curran
claimed that the English players are grateful they won’t be participating in
any of these matches.
“It was pretty bad,” Curran said.
“We’re pretty happy to get through that game without any injuries – both
teams, I think. That’s pretty important, and we don’t have to come back
here.” Instead, they will travel to Delhi ahead of a fixture against
Afghanistan on Sunday.
Curran played in Dharamsala earlier this year for
Punjab Kings, but the outfield’s condition has worsened significantly since due
to rain. “Hopefully, the outfield does get better: it’s not very nice,
what’s happened to it,” he said. “But I thought the wicket was really
good. Luckily, we’re all fit, and will move onto Delhi.”
He confirmed that England’s players had been
discouraged from diving: “[The message] was just ‘be careful’ and you saw
when Bangladesh fielded, they were pretty careful as well. Nobody wants to see
anyone get injured and luckily, there weren’t too many balls we had to sprint
after… we’re just pretty happy that no-one’s injured coming into the next
game.”