Brad Currie: My World Cup dream

Brad Currie: Exclusive Interview

It's been a whirlwind couple of seasons for Sussex's Brad Currie, topped off in recent weeks when he and fellow Sussex teammate Charlie Tear were called up to represent Scotland at this year's ICC T20 World Cup. We caught up with Brad on his return to Hove to find out what the experience was like and his hopes for the remainder of the Vitality Blast campaign with the Sharks. 

Brad, congratulations on your world cup campaign – how proud of a moment was it for you stepping onto that pitch for your country?

Firstly, thank you and yeah an immensely proud moment for myself and for my family especially my dad. I think a World Cup is ultimately a celebration of every nation’s great talent and so to be selected and given an opportunity to perform on a stage such as this is a privilege and a huge honour!

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see you bowl against England and Jofra in the opener because of the rain, but you did pick up two wickets in the next game against Namibia – what was that feeling like?

Every wicket you take is always such an amazing feeling but yeah doing it at a WC had that little bit extra. Whealy got one in the first over and we were on the board and I just remember coming into the huddle thinking I want this feeling; the feeling of an early wicket as well, as its always very valuable to setting up the game for your team. 

The second one obviously came later on but still with a lot of joy, at that stage I kinda just wanted to get out my spell without hurting my figures as I knew I had been economical up till that point. Having managed to close out the over and eventually the innings I was very pleased with my own contribution and knew that if we won I would’ve played a part in keeping Namibia down to a low enough total.

Charlie Tear takes a catch for Scotland against Australia at the T20 World Cup

We all know you’re one of the best around for wicket celebrations – talk to us about those ones against Namibia…

Haha very good… yeah so as most people know, I’m a Bournemouth fan and Dom Solanke has his bow n arrow celebration, as well as his anime celebrations but I decided to just stick to the bow n arrow for now and it’s stuck pretty well so far. I just hope Solanke doesn’t move club because the only other Bournemouth player with a trademark celebration is Antoine Semenyo and he does like 3 backflips, so I don’t think the medical team will like me attempting that!

Looking back at the Sharks, it’s been a great start to the campaign, what have you made of the team’s performances so far?

I’ve had a very keen eye on the games whilst in the Caribbean, I think I managed to catch 5/6 games. As a team they’ve obviously played very well so far with everyone chipping in at different stages and so it’s really nice to be coming back knowing we’re well in the hunt for a QF spot. 

I’ve taken note of how Ollie has led the boys with the ball as when I’m back fit I hope to play a similar role in the team when, hopefully for him he’s picked for England. He’s led the team with great control and really putting a squeeze on the opposition in the powerplay. 

Dan Hughes has led with the bat extremely well as well, so long may his form continue. 

You must be itching to get back now and contribute to the team?

Absolutely, I was obviously gutted when Scotland were knocked out the World Cup but almost when we were on the plane home I was switched back into Sussex mode and very focused on trying to help us qualify for the QFs. 

It’s something I’ve obviously never achieved in my career so far so it’s definitely something I’m excited to help towards. Unfortunately I can’t say when I’ll be back at the moment but the medical team here are already doing such a good job for me, so hopefully I’ll be back as soon as possible and sharks fans can know when I’m back I’ll be trying my utmost to get us a top 4 spot, as will the whole team!

ElClassicoast is approaching in the coming weeks – how often do you look back at your performance in that game at The 1st Central County Ground last year and think “wow what a night”?

I’m glad you said ‘performance’ and not just ‘catch’! I think people forget about my bowling that day and maybe rightly so but obviously it was nice to take a few wickets early in the powerplay to swing the game in our favour. To answer your question though, I haven’t looked back at my bowling in that game that much but yeah maybe I’ve looked back at the catch a ‘few’ times.

I just love seeing the crowd’s reaction and listening to the shock and realisation that yes that actually happened! Might try replicate something like that in the next ElClassicoast, so I hope whoever has been fielding deep Square doesn’t mind swapping positions!

Finally, we said, 4 wins out of 6 so far, knowing Farbs he won’t be letting anyone get ahead of themselves – but how far do you think this team can go in the Blast?

I mean no team enters a competition without thinking they can win it so yeah why not go all the way. Look, obviously we’re well placed at the moment and probably need to get up to 8/9 wins to secure a QF spot so I see no reason why we can’t achieve that at the very least and then from there it’s 3 knockout games of T20 cricket where anything can happen and I think the World Cup with Scotland proved to me that it doesn’t matter about the bookies odds or what perceived chance you have of winning the game. 

The game is played between 11 guys on the pitch, so yeah I back us to go all the way and I know the fans will think the same!

Tickets for Sharks vs Kent selling FAST!

Tickets for tonight's clash at The 1st Central County Ground with Kent are selling quickly!

Grab yours today via our ticketing website, to avoid disappointment. Don't forget, if you're coming as a group of 6 or more, you'll save 10% on your booking!