England has confirmed that Sam Curran will miss the remainder of the English summer to undergo surgery for a groin injury, effectively ruling him out of a potential Test return.
Curran’s name had been mooted as a like-for-like replacement for the retiring Ben Stokes in the longest format, with selector Marcus North describing him as a “player of interest.” However, he was left out of the squad for the first two Tests of the ongoing Pakistan series to recover from injury with a chance of featuring in the third.
“Sam has had a really heavy workload this summer playing a tremendous amount of cricket, and during that time he’s been doing so with a couple of niggles, which you expect most bowlers do. But at this stage with a couple of niggles – we’ve seen he’s missed a game in the Hundred – we don’t feel physically, he’s just quite right there,” North said.
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“I think [it would be] unfair to put him into these first two Tests. He’s someone our backroom staff and medical team will be working with in the coming weeks to make sure that he potentially becomes an option in the third Test. He’s someone that we really value highly and we see playing a role in the future for us as an allrounder.”
England has confirmed that he will now undergo surgery for a groin injury, ruling him out of the remainder of the summer. Curran’s last Test appearance came in 2021.
In the same statement, it also confirmed that all-rounder Will Jacks had a successful operation to remove his appendix. It will now monitor his recovery ahead of the T20I series against Sri Lanka beginning on September 15.
Published on Aug 20, 2026
