[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"header-nav":3,"footer-nav":29,"article-sam-curran-stokes-vacancy-england-test-cricket-analysis":82,"category-counts-nav":99,"related-sam-curran-stokes-vacancy-england-test-cricket-analysis":109},[4,8,11,14,17,20,23,26],{"label":5,"to":6,"exact":7},"Home","\u002F",true,{"label":9,"to":10},"World Cup","\u002Fworldcup",{"label":12,"to":13},"Standings","\u002Fstandings",{"label":15,"to":16},"Football","\u002Fcategory\u002Ffootball",{"label":18,"to":19},"Basketball","\u002Fcategory\u002Fbasketball",{"label":21,"to":22},"Tennis","\u002Fcategory\u002Ftennis",{"label":24,"to":25},"F1","\u002Fcategory\u002Ff1",{"label":27,"to":28},"Long Reads","\u002Fcategory\u002Flong-reads",{"brand":30,"columns":32,"tagline":80,"copyright":81},{"description":31},"In-depth sports journalism covering football, basketball, tennis, F1, and beyond. Daily analysis, long reads, and expert opinion.",[33,51,59],{"heading":34,"links":35},"Leagues",[36,39,42,45,48],{"label":37,"to":38},"Premier League","\u002Ftag\u002Fpremier-league",{"label":40,"to":41},"La Liga","\u002Ftag\u002Fla-liga",{"label":43,"to":44},"NBA","\u002Ftag\u002Fnba",{"label":46,"to":47},"Formula 1","\u002Ftag\u002Fformula-1",{"label":49,"to":50},"Champions League","\u002Ftag\u002Fchampions-league",{"heading":52,"links":53},"Content",[54,56,57],{"label":55,"to":16},"Analysis",{"label":27,"to":28},{"label":58,"to":16},"Data & Stats",{"heading":60,"links":61},"Company",[62,65,68,71,74,77],{"label":63,"to":64},"Terms of Service","\u002Fservice",{"label":66,"to":67},"Privacy Policy","\u002Fprivacy",{"label":69,"to":70},"Editorial Policy","\u002Feditorial",{"label":72,"to":73},"Contact Us","\u002Fcontact",{"label":75,"to":76},"About Us","\u002Fabout",{"label":78,"to":79},"Website Disclaimer","\u002Fdisclaimer","Built for the love of sport","© SportPulse. All rights reserved.",{"title":83,"slug":84,"category":85,"badge":86,"author":87,"excerpt":88,"date":89,"readTime":90,"image":91,"imageAlt":83,"tags":92,"body":97,"_path":98},"Curran to Replace Stokes? England's Allrounder Puzzle","sam-curran-stokes-vacancy-england-test-cricket-analysis","long-reads","Feature","James Chen","Sam Curran wants to fill Ben Stokes' void but refuses to burden himself with expectations. England's selection puzzle just got more complicated.","2026-07-03 14:15:45","7 min read","https:\u002F\u002Fichef.bbci.co.uk\u002Face\u002Fstandard\u002F976\u002Fcpsprodpb\u002F20a0\u002Flive\u002F217dab50-76dd-11f1-b508-3b3f1f22a3c1.jpg",[93,94,95,96],"England Cricket","Test Cricket","County Cricket","The Ashes","## The Vacancy Nobody Wants to Acknowledge\n\nBen Stokes does not leave vacancies. He leaves craters. The kind of bowling-allrounder shaped void that England have spent the better part of a decade trying to fill. So when Sam Curran publicly states he wants the opportunity to replace Stokes in the Test side but refuses to pile pressure on himself, it is not false modesty. It is survival instinct.\n\nEngland have faced **two Test matches without Stokes since his international career began in 2015**. Now they face a stretch where the towering all-format talisman is unavailable. The void is gaping. Every county allrounder with a left arm and a heartbeat has suddenly become a candidate. Curran, at **26 years old**, is merely the one with the most compelling case and the most self-aware pitch.\n\n## Why Curran? The Statistical Breakdown\n\nCurran has played **42 international matches for England across all formats**. He made his name in red-ball cricket with a reverse-swinging mastery and left-arm angle that offered something genuinely different from England's standard right-arm pace battery. His Test record features **4 five-wicket hauls** in addition to **31 wickets at an average of 27.39**.\n\nThe numbers tell a story of someone who has done it. Both at home and away.\n\n### What Curran Brings\n- **Left-arm angle across right-handers**: creates both bowled and lbw threats\n- **31 Test wickets at 27.39 average**: solid return from 10 matches\n- **2 Test fifties at No. 7 or No. 8**: genuine lower-order batting pedigree\n- **Dukes ball specialist**: swing and seam movement in English conditions\n- **3 Player of the Series awards**: 2018 series versus India remains standout\n\nThe appeal is obvious. But the comparison to Stokes is where it gets complicated.\n\n## The Stokes Shadow: An Unwinnable Comparison\n\nHere is the uncomfortable truth. Nobody replaces Stokes. The man scored **6,Out of 4 batting average with 13 centuries** and took **197 Test wickets**. He invented entire genres of Test match cricket from the lower order. The Headingley miracle. The World Cup final. Lord's 2019. Cape Town 2016. His portfolio is not a CV, it is a cinematic universe.\n\nCurran knows this. That is precisely why he sidesteps the pressure.\n\n> I am not putting any pressure on myself. I just want the opportunity. What happens after that is up to me, but I am not going to burden myself with expectations that are not mine to carry.\n\nThis is not bravado. It is a professionally curated boundary. The moment Curran accepts the framing of Stokes' replacement, every innings gets measured against a ghost. Every wicket gets compared to a miracle. He would be sculpting himself into a comparison that destroys careers.\n\n### The Numbers That Matter\n\n| Metric | Ben Stokes | Sam Curran |\n|--------|-----------|------------|\n| Test Matches | **104+** | **10** |\n| Test Wickets | **197** | **31** |\n| Batting Average | **36.3+** | **24.0** |\n| Five-Wicket Hauls | **4** | **4** |\n| Test Centuries | **13** | **0** |\n\nThe gap is not a gap. It is a football field. And that is not a criticism of Curran. It is an acknowledgment of what Stokes was.\n\n## The Tactical Fit: What England Actually Need\n\nEngland under McCullum and Stokes transformed into the most aggressive Test team on the planet. The Bazball philosophy demands cricketers who score quickly, take wickets in bursts, and abandon conventional caution. This is where the Stokes vacancy becomes tactically fascinating.\n\nThe role of Stokes as a Test allrounder was not just statistical. It was structural. Stokes was the fourth seamer who allowed England to play **4 bowlers including himself** without risking even one alongside a spinner. He was the seventh batsman who averaged in the mid-40s. He was the enforcer who could break partnerships with both ball and bat.\n\nCurran cannot replicate that exact structure. His batting, while useful, averages **24.0** in Tests, not **the 36+ that Stokes maintained**. He is a genuine lower-order contributor, not a middle-order anchor. This means England cannot simply drop Curran into Stokes' exact slot and expect the team balance to hold.\n\n### The Selection Dilemma\n\n1. **Option A**: Play Curran as a bowling allrounder at No. 8, accepting a weaker lower-order batting lineup\n2. **Option B**: Play an extra specialist batsman and use Curran purely as a fourth seamer\n3. **Option C**: Look elsewhere entirely and pick a different profile of allrounder\n\nChris Woakes averages **44.1** with the bat in Test cricket and has a century to his name. Will Sutherland offers bounce and bowling depth. Brydon Carse brings heat and Durham pedigree. The market is not thin.\n\n## The County Grind: Curran's Case in 2025\n\nThis is where Curran's humility meets pragmatism. He knows that Test selection is no longer awarded on potential. It is awarded on county runs and wickets.\n\nCurran's recent first-class record will be the document that secures or denies his return. England management does not care about white-ball pedigree when naming a Test squad. Chris Woakes learned this lesson: a distinguished limited-overs career is not a red-ball passport.\n\nFor Curran, the path is brutally simple. Take **wickets inclusters** for Surrey. Score runs when the ball swings. Produce the kind of performances that selectors cannot ignore. The pressure he refuses to place on himself will be applied by the weight of county statistics.\n\n## McCullum's Philosophy: Does Curran Fit Bazball?\n\nBrendon McCullum's England demand fearlessness. They want players who walk to the crease with intent and bowl with attacking fields. Curran, temperamentally, fits this mold perfectly.\n\nHis left-arm swing is a wicket-taking weapon, not a run-containing tool. His batting, while not Stokes-like in volume, has shown flashes of aggression. In 2018 against India, he scored **a match-winning 78 at Edgbaston** that displayed exactly the kind of lower-order chaos Bazball values.\n\nThe question is whether McCullum sees Curran as a Test cricketer or a white-ball specialist. The answer lies in opportunities. And opportunities lie in county runs.\n\n## The Bigger Picture: England's Allrounder Pipeline\n\nStokes' absence exposes a systemic issue in English cricket. Where is the next generation of Test-ready allrounders?\n\nThe county game produces batsmen. It produces bowlers. Genuine allrounders who can bat at six or seven and take wickets are rare. Stokes himself was an anomaly, a player who probably batted too low for England and whose bowling bore a load that ultimately wore him down.\n\nEngland need to develop two or three allrounders simultaneously, not rely on one savior. Curran is a candidate, but he cannot be the only one. The selector's job is to build a pipeline, not find a single replacement. Because when the next inevitable absence occurs, England need options.\n\n## What Comes Next: The Road to a Test Return\n\nCurran's public statement is an opening bid. It tells the selectors he is available, interested, and motivated. It also tells them he is not desperate.\n\nThe coming months will be defined not by headlines but by performances. If Curran takes **20+ first-class wickets** and contributes **400+ runs** in the county season, he will be impossible to ignore. If he does not, someone else will step into the conversation.\n\nEngland's Test team is not a charity. It is not a sentimental journey. It is a results business. And in the post-Stokes era, every candidate will be judged not against Stokes' legacy, but against England's present needs.\n\n> I am not putting any pressure on myself. I just want the opportunity.\n\nThat is the right answer. The only answer. Now Curran must make his county cricket speak louder than his press conferences.\n\n**The Bottom Line**: Curran has the tools, the temperament, and the tactical fit to warrant a Test return. But the Stokes comparison is a trap he must avoid. His job is not to be Stokes. His job is to be the best version of Sam Curran, and to make that version good enough for England's Test side. The opportunity is there. The rest is up to him.","\u002Farticles\u002Fsam-curran-stokes-vacancy-england-test-cricket-analysis",[100,101,102,103,104,105,106,107,85,108],"analysis","basketball","cricket","f1","football","general","golf","mma","tennis",[110,122,130],{"id":111,"stem":111,"path":112,"title":113,"category":85,"badge":24,"badgeType":114,"author":87,"authorRole":115,"authorInitials":116,"date":117,"readTime":118,"image":119,"imageAlt":113,"tags":120,"excerpt":121},"ai-ethics-inside-tech-moral-of-the-machine","\u002Farticles\u002Fai-ethics-inside-tech-moral-of-the-machine","The Moral of the Machine: Can Ethics Survive the AI Arms Race?","category","Senior Football Analyst","JC","2026-07-17 04:15:56","6 min read","\u002Fimages\u002Farticles\u002Fai-ethics-inside-tech-moral-of-the-machine.webp","Long Reads, Technology, AI, Ethics","Inside the fragile world of AI ethicists fighting to keep pace with a technology rewiring civilization faster than anyone can govern it.",{"id":123,"stem":123,"path":124,"title":125,"category":85,"badge":15,"badgeType":114,"author":87,"authorRole":115,"authorInitials":116,"date":126,"readTime":118,"image":127,"imageAlt":125,"tags":128,"excerpt":129},"ella-toone-grief-football-documentary","\u002Farticles\u002Fella-toone-grief-football-documentary","How Ella Toone Is Redefining Athletic Resilience Through Grief","2026-06-30 23:31:54","https:\u002F\u002Fichef.bbci.co.uk\u002Face\u002Fstandard\u002F976\u002Fcpsprodpb\u002F43ab\u002Flive\u002F2f90d850-55fb-11f1-9773-43c89bcb1e91.jpg","WSL, England Women, Women's Super League, International Football","Ella Toone's raw documentary reveals the hidden psychological burden elite footballers carry when grief intersects with the spotlight.",{"id":131,"stem":131,"path":132,"title":133,"category":85,"badge":86,"badgeType":114,"author":134,"authorRole":135,"authorInitials":136,"date":137,"readTime":138,"image":139,"imageAlt":133,"tags":140,"excerpt":141},"ra-penalty-dechambeau-open-trump-intervention","\u002Farticles\u002Fra-penalty-dechambeau-open-trump-intervention","R&A Stands Firm: DeChambeau Penalty Was Clear-Cut","Elena Rossi","SportPulse Contributor","ER","2026-07-18 12:46:20","5 min read","\u002Fimages\u002Farticles\u002Fra-penalty-dechambeau-open-trump-intervention.webp","The Open, Golf","Mark Darbon dismisses political pressure over DeChambeau's penalty, reaffirming governance independence at the Open."]