England need to force follow-on as rain threatens: Curran

England need to bowl West Indies out cheaply and try to force a follow-on to have any chance of winning the second Test, said seamer Sam Curran ahead of the third day on Saturday which was delayed by rain.

“If we do get washed out today it is quite obvious what we need to do to win the game,” Curran told Sky television on Saturday as the start of play was delayed. “We need to bowl them out cheaply in the first innings and try and get them following on. There is no reasons why we cannot do that.”

“Obviously, it’s going to be a big work load for the bowlers but we are nice and fresh and hopefully we can do something for the team,” he added.

Curran was brought into the England attack after the first Test in Southampton, which West Indies won by four wickets.

The hosts are without Jofra Archer, left out because he breached bio-secure protocols, as well as James Anderson and Mark Wood, who were rested.

England face a tough schedule with six tests in a seven-week period as Pakistan visit after the West Indies.

“That’s why coming into the summer it was clear there was going to be a rotation policy and that’s why we have a totally different attack for this game,” Curran said.

The first day was also affected by rain and Saturday’s weather forecast could see the entire third day lost.

England declared on 469-9 late on Friday and Curran took a wicket as the West Indies reached 32-1 in reply, 437 runs behind.