It says plenty for Hampshire's pedigree in the T20 Blast that one of the junior members of the side is gearing up for his fourth Finals Day appearance. Scott Currie was nine - and still to make a decision over whether he would prefer to pursue cricket or football as part of Portsmouth's academy - when Hampshire won their first T20 title in 2010. This weekend, the club will be in contention at English cricket's T20 showpiece for the 11th time in 16 seasons.
Currie, now 24, heads back to Edgbaston as Hampshire's leading wicket-taker in the competition this year, and having played every game as part of a seam-bowling group that features the wily old salts, Chris Wood, Benny Howell and James Fuller, as well as young pace merchant Sonny Baker, recently capped by England.
Since breaking into the first XI in 2021, when his 19 wickets at 12.84 helped Hampshire to reach the Blast semi-finals, Currie has quietly carved out a niche as one of the most effective seamers operating in the domestic game. At 6ft 5in and with the required range of variations to succeed in modern short-form cricket, he has stood out for his calm temperament. "I might not be the most talented or have the express pace of, say, Sonny, but I've got my own skill set I try to stick to," he tells ESPNcricinfo.
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Part of that is a willingness to do the "dirty work at the end of the innings", fully aware that a bowler can just as easily become the villain as the hero in such scenarios. It's a quality his captain, James Vince, a man involved on all 11 of Hampshire's trips to Finals Day, doubtless values.
"It's not glamorous, but it's about trying to get a job done for the team," Currie says. "I do relish those moments, because I think that's where you learn about yourself. I'd rather be in those moments, and maybe not on the right side of the result, but you're learning about yourself, and you're learning for next time what you need to do differently
"[I've] probably only been doing it the last couple of years, but in that short time, I've messed it up untold times, I've got it right a few times. That's just the nature of the game. You get it right, people think you're great. You get it wrong and you look a bit foolish. But yeah, I'm more than happy to step into those roles, and I think the captains that I've played under appreciate that, and it probably helps me stay slightly ahead, and maybe gets me picked in teams where others might not necessarily fulfill those roles."
Currie has had to bide his time with Hampshire - he was 12th man when they won the Blast in dramatic circumstances in 2022, and again when they lost in the semi-finals in 2023 - but has done a diligent apprenticeship. He cites former team-mate Nathan Ellis, the Australian overseas who held his nerve (twice) to seal Hampshire's title three years ago, as someone he has consciously tried to emulate, particularly when bowling at the death.
"He always had this thing where Vince would call him to bowl, he knew he was bowling at the end, and he would always run towards the crease to give his hat to the umpire. And I saw that as 'Wow, he looks like he wants to be there'. It's something I sort of tried to copy and tried to use. He never shied away, he was always in those moments."