England's emerging allrounder Sam Curran looked his pale self in the first ODI between the West Indies and England at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua on Sunday (December 3) as he created an unwanted all-time England record.
Curran conceded 98 runs in 9.5 overs to move past former England pacer Steve Harmison and created the record for conceding the most runs in an ODI innings by an English bowler. He looked a forlorn figure on the field as the West Indian batters took a liking to him.
The record previously belonged to Harmison who had conceded 97 runs during his 10-over spell against Sri Lanka in Leeds on July 1, 2006. The Lankan Lions were chasing 322 to win and centuries by Upul Tharanga (109 off 102 balls) and Sanath Jayasuriya (152 off 99 balls) helped them claim the contest by eight wickets and 75 balls to spare.
Harmison was shown no mercy by the Lankan batters as he went wicketless in his 10-over spell and conceded runs at an alarming rate of 9.70 per over.
Quite akin to Harmison, Curran too failed to wrestle back control after he was tried and found wanting early on during Windies' run chase. The 25-year-old got taken for 30 in his first four overs and that's when skipper Jos Buttler decided to take him out of the attack and asked Brydon Carse to replace him and bowl alongside Gus Atkinson.
Buttler entrusted the responsibility to Curran of bowling the penultimate over of the game as the Windies needed 19 to win. However, the ploy went haywire as Curran got hit for 19 on the first five balls of the over, including three sixes.
West Indian skipper Shai Hope smashed a six over midwicket to win the game for the hosts.
