England’s clinical closer from a cricketing dynasty

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In player of the tournament Sam Curran, and his bowling at the ‘death’, England found the final piece of the jigsaw to turn Jos Buttler’s side into Twenty20 world champions.

The quietly spoken Curran bookended England’s triumphant tournament in Australia with two of the finest spells seen in a T20 World Cup.

He took 5-10 in 3.4 overs to bowl out Afghanistan for 112 in the opening Super 12 match and then 3-12 from four overs in the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, including the key wickets of Mohammad Rizwan and Shan Masood, to keep Pakistan down to 137-8.

The latter saw him awarded player of the match in the final, a year after he had been a spectator as England’s Adil Rashid, Chris Jordan and Chris Woakes were smashed for 57 runs in the last three overs of a T20 World Cup semi-final to hand New Zealand victory.

And in 2016, he had been a teenager watching on TV when Ben Stokes failed to shackle Carlos Brathwaite, who bludgeoned four successive sixes in the final over in Kolkata to give West Indies their second T20 World Cup triumph.

Now his laser-accurate left-arm swing, together with a deceptively quick shorter ball, cutters and clever changes of pace, has been the answer to England’s bowling prayers.