Tom Curran, the Surrey seamer, has received his first senior England call-up after being added to the squad in the Caribbean as cover the injured Jake Ball.
Ball was due to undergo a scan on his right knee after pulling up lame during his third over of England’s second warm-up match on Monday and failing to run off what was originally considered a simple niggle.
With the first of three one-day internationals against West Indies starting on Friday in Antigua, the selectors have turned to Curran, 21, after two impressive recent outings for the Lions in which he claimed 10 wickets during a 1-1 series draw against Sri Lanka A. The call-up sees him leapfrog his younger brother and Surrey teammate, Sam Curran, who is also part of the Lions set-up and came close to selection when his fellow-left-armer, David Willey, was ruled out of the tour with injury, only for Steven Finn to be preferred.
As a right-armer, the elder Curran provides England a more like-for-like replacement for Ball and is the quicker of the two also. The son of former Zimbabwe all-rounder Kevin Curran, he shot to prominence in 2015 when his 76 wickets powered Surrey’s promotion to Division One.
“It’s all pretty surreal right now,” said Curran in an England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) statement before leaving the Lions hotel near Dambulla, Sri Lanka yesterday. “But I’m giddy, I can’t wait to get out there.”
Born in South Africa and initially educated in Durban, Tom Curran was spotted by former Surrey captain Ian Greig while playing schools cricket. He was invited to play Second XI cricket for Surrey in 2012 and qualified to represent England last year.
Meanwhile, England opener Alex Hales should play a role after all in West Indies after earning a call-up only a month after he had been omitted because of a right hand fracture.
The 28-year-old Nottinghamshire batsman — who has 11 Tests and 40 One Day Internationals under his belt — suffered the injury during January’s disastrous tour of India.
However, having been left out when the original squad was announced on January 27th he has been summoned after a scan confirmed he has sufficiently recovered although he will still have to undergo rehab when he gets to the West Indies to ensure he is fully fit.
Hales, who last year made England’s highest individual ODI score — 171 against Pakistan at his Trent Bridge home ground — will rejoin his international team-mates three days before the first match in Antigua on March 3. Hales tweeted: “Antigua tomorrow. Can’t wait to get back amongst it!”
“Alex Hales arrives tomorrow evening local time,” the ECB confirmed. “He will continue his rehab with us until the medical and coaching teams deem he is fit enough to join the squad officially.”
England are due to play a three match ODI series against the West Indians, two games in Antigua and one in Barbados.

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