Sam Curran Ruled Out for the Season After Groin Surgery, Ending England Test Recall Hopes

Sam Curran will undergo groin surgery on Friday, ruling him out of the remainder of the English cricket season and extinguishing any chance of a Test recall this summer (BBC Sport).

The 28-year-old all-rounder — a player who bats and bowls, giving a team flexibility in selection — had been firmly in England's plans. Selector Marcus North suggested Curran could have been picked for the ongoing first Test against Pakistan at Headingley had he not been managing his fitness through The Hundred, the franchise 100-ball competition. North also indicated Curran would come into contention for the third Test, scheduled for 9 September. Further assessment, though, revealed the groin issue requires an operation, and that ends the conversation for now.

Curran's last Test appearance came in 2021. His potential return had carried extra weight because England are trying to rebalance their side following the retirement of Ben Stokes, the dynamic all-rounder who anchored the team for years. Without Stokes, and now without Curran, England went into the Headingley Test without a specialist spin bowler, instead picking Dan Lawrence to bat at six and contribute part-time off-spin — a stopgap solution that speaks to the selection puzzle they now face (BBC Sport).

The groin problem has shadowed Curran for much of 2026. He pulled out of this year's Indian Premier League in March citing the same issue. He returned to action as a specialist batter in the T20 Blast — England's domestic 20-over tournament — before gradually rebuilding his bowling workload (Cricinfo). Captaining MI London in The Hundred, he missed one match outright and failed to bowl his full four-ball allocation in four of the other seven group games, a clear sign the injury was not fully resolved.

Compounding England's all-rounder shortage, Will Jacks — who filled a similar batting-and-bowling role during the Ashes last winter — is also sidelined after surgery to remove his appendix. Jacks is absent from Surrey's County Championship squad for their match against Nottinghamshire starting Thursday, and his availability for England's T20 and ODI series against Sri Lanka in September will be assessed in due course (BBC Sport).

For England, the immediate concern is a Pakistan series in which the balance of the side has become a pressing question. A Test team typically fields five specialist bowlers or a combination of four bowlers plus an all-rounder who can contribute in both disciplines. Lose the all-rounders to injury and the whole structure of the side shifts, forcing compromises on bowling variety and batting depth. That is precisely the position England find themselves in at Headingley, where Lawrence's gentle off-spin is shouldering a workload it was never designed for.

Curran's surgery on Friday begins a recovery timeline that will stretch beyond the season's end. For a player who last wore a Test shirt five years ago, the wait for a sixth continues.