T20 World Cup: Scotland's Brad Currie on Fantasy Football alter-ego

Brad Currie's biography on social media platform X reads: "21/22 OR: 1k. 22/23 OR: 1.8k."

He will likely open the bowling for Scotland against England at the T20 World Cup on Saturday, but those numbers do not reference his cricket stats.

Instead, they are Currie's record playing Fantasy Football because online he is known by another name, 'FPL Schofield'.

There he runs an account with thousands of followers offering tips and tactics on the online football game.

"My notes page on my iPad is filled with FPL transfers and fixtures rotations," Currie tells BBC Sport.

"My YouTube algorithm is just FPL videos galore. My Twitter is nothing other than football and even my TikTok.

"My girlfriend absolutely hates it."

Currie, 27, was once ranked 30th in the world in a game now played by almost 13 million people.

Playing a World Cup in India comes with one obvious problem - the five-and-a-half-hour time difference to the UK.

This week's Premier League matches kicked off in the early hours and the deadlines to make transfers were late at night.

"It was horrible," he says.

"I can't figure out a way to get the games on and I am even struggling to see highlights.

"It has been absolute torture, but thankfully it is the FA Cup this weekend."

Though the secret has started to come out, the professional cricket world was initially unaware of Currie's alter ego.

These days he gets messages from team-mates and opponents asking for advice.

"[Sussex bowler] Sean Hunt is one," Currie says.

"He messaged me a screenshot before our West Indies game and said: 'I know you have bigger things at play, but what do you think of my team?'

"The other day he said: 'What do you think of my team? Oh and well bowled.'"

So what about a tip for the rest of the FPL season?

"Chip strategy," Currie replies quickly. "Dead-end into Gameweek 31. Wildcard in 32. Bench boost 33.

"Triple captain whenever you want."

All clear?

Currie is the brother of Scott - the Scotland bowler who was called up by England last year.

They both qualify for Scotland via their Scottish dad, having grown up on England's south coast. Left-armer Brad studied sports psychology at Bournemouth University.

A lifelong fan, Brad was at the Cherries' 3-2 win over Liverpool at the Vitality Stadium - when Amine Adli scored a 95th-minute winner against the Premier League champions - the day he got the call from coach Owen Dawkins to tell him he had made Scotland's World Cup squad.

"I said to my mate: 'I know exactly what this is, but I can't pick this up because I won't get any signal," Currie says.

"I got to the phone later and Dawks said: 'That was a good result, wasn't it?'

"I said: 'Yeah, and I hope you're not going to ruin my mood now.'"

Having been pipped at qualifying by the Netherlands and Italy, Scotland got a place at this World Cup when Bangladesh opted to boycott the tournament.

The preceding weeks were uncertain, filled with claims and counterclaims about whether the Tigers would take part and what it would mean for Scotland if they did not. Even the players were not immune.

"I was at Sussex training in the indoor school and was asking all of the powers that be and the coaching staff," Currie says.

"It was crazy to have people saying we were going. I just thought, 'you know more than me and I am one of the players in the official Scotland group chat'."

As a county pro at Sussex, Currie was fortunate he had been training through the winter.

Bowlers' workloads are notoriously important to manage, however, and Scotland's focus switched from the Cricket World Cup League 2 at the end of March to a T20 World Cup in India at the start of February.

"I don't know what date it officially got announced but the two days after were the weekend and I just did nothing," he says.

"My girlfriend's family were like: 'Should you not be training? Should you not be doing something?'

"You can't cram in. You just will get injured. It is not like a school test where you can cram in revision."

Uncertainty also surrounded the availability of the younger Currie brother.

Despite being picked by England for the tour of Ireland last year, he did not make his debut, leaving some to wonder if he could switch back to the Scots.

As it turned out, one spell as a substitute fielder made him ineligible.

"I had to text him and ask," Brad says.

"My heart sank because there are loads of brothers out here playing.

"We have just played the Manentis and the Moscas [against Italy]. There's the Sheikh brothers [Nepal] as well.

"It probably would have forced Mum and Dad to remortgage the house and get some flights out but there's only one son out here so it's not needed.

"He is going to try and please Mum and play for England, but I am going to keep Dad sweet and stick to my Scottish genes."

England's defeat by West Indies effectively means Saturday's encounter is a must-win for both sides.

They last met at the 2024 T20 World Cup when an impressive Scotland batting performance meant England were faced with a tricky 110 in 10 overs before rain prevented what could have been an intriguing situation.

"It is something we will never have the answer to," Currie says.

"I have learned to fear no one and go into games expecting to win.

"I have a fair background in sports psychology and that is the best way to approach these games.

"They have Adil Rashid [batting] at 11 with 10 first-class hundreds and I haven't got a first-class double-digit score. I am not naive.

"[But] They have got to play and travel. We have played two games at Eden Gardens.

"I am just looking forward to it."

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