Matches (19)
IPL (2)
Pakistan vs New Zealand (1)
PAK v WI [W] (1)
CAN T20 (2)
County DIV1 (5)
County DIV2 (4)
ACC Premier Cup (2)
Women's QUAD (2)

Full Name

Samuel Matthew Curran

Born

June 03, 1998, Northampton

Age

25y 321d

Batting Style

Left hand Bat

Bowling Style

Left arm Medium fast

Playing Role

Allrounder

Education

Wellington College

RELATIONS

(brother),

(father),

(grandfather),

(brother)

Sam Curran, younger brother of Tom Curran, his fellow Surrey all-rounder, and son of the former Zimbabwe cricketer Kevin Curran, fulfilled his destiny at the age of 19 years and 363 days, when he made his Test debut against Pakistan at Headingley in June 2018. One Test later, he scooped his maiden Man-of-the-Match award, after four first-innings wickets and a thrilling counter-attacking half-century had given England the edge in a gripping Edgbaston Test against India. His success merely heightened the debate as to whether batting or bowling will ultimately become his strongest suit.

Perhaps the only real conclusion to that debate is it does not matter. Curran has developed into an X-factor cricketer of global repute. He was player of the T20 World Cup in 2022, taking 13 wickets at 11.38, with an economy rate of 6.52, emerging as a canny death bowler to take England to glory. He signed off with a player of the match performance in the final against Pakistan, taking 3 for 12.

Punjab Kings subsequently made him the most expensive buy at an IPL auction, outbidding five other teams to acquire his services for INR 18.50 crore (£1.85 million approximately). Back in 2018, the same franchise - Kings XI Pubjab, as they were known at the time - purchased him for INR 7.2 crore (£800,000 approximately). It was at the IPL, while playing for Chennai Super Kings, he showed his dexterity as a makeshift opening batter, having primarily been used as a hitter down the order.

His absence from Test duties in 2022 was more through circumstance than design. A back injury ruled him out of the 2021/22 Ashes which took time to shake off. Now, however, both player and national team are aligned. As a leftie in both disciplines, his skillset is a rarity as far as English red ball bowling stocks are concerned, and his composure with bat in hand has never been questioned. Having fallen in the nineties twice in first class cricket, he finally made it to three figures in June 2022 with 126 against Kent. It was his 120th innings in the format.

Curran has belied his slight frame from the moment he entered Surrey's 1st X1 in 2015, showing a natural ability to swing his left-armers at a decent lick and full of ambition at the crease. The combative nature of his cricket marked him down as a special cricketer in the making, winning attention from England Lions at the end of the 2016 season.

Curran made an eye-catching Championship debut against Kent at The Oval when he took five wickets in the first innings, eight in all in the match, at only 17. Surrey research suggested he was the youngest-ever player to achieve a five-wicket haul in the Championship and the second youngest Surrey debutant. He opened the bowling with his brother, Tom, and took a wicket with his fifth ball when an inswinger bowled Joe Denly. At 17 years and 40 days old, his first-class debut came 69 years to the day after Tony Lock, the youngest player to play for Surrey at 17 years and eight days, made his first appearance - also against Kent - at the Oval on July 13, 1946.

He showed an ability to swing the ball into the right-hander from the outset. That there was aggression, too, was evident even before his debut when he filled in for a Surrey T20 practice match and struck Gary Wilson on the helmet with one of the first balls he bowled. His laid-back personality was also evident when he was given a day off school by Wellington College, where he was taking A levels in PE, Art and Business Studies, to play in a Royal London Cup semi-final against Nottinghamshire at The Oval, where he first came to the attention of a wider audience with a composed, energetic display.

Two successive runners-up medals in the Royal London Cup final, as Surrey lost Lord's finals against Gloucestershire and Warwickshire, were not a bad start for a player still only 18, but such is Curran's competitive nature, it is doubtful that he found much consolation in either of them. In a 2016 summer that brought so much to admire with bat and ball, there was a 96 against Lancashire - ended when a tame return catch to the offspinner Arron Lilley was followed by a disconsolate walk from the crease, in the words of ESPNcricinfo's reporter, as if he had just lost a game of Pokemon Go - and four wickets in seven ball against Durham on the way to the first six-for of his Championship career.


ESPNcricinfo staff

Sam Curran Career Stats

Batting & Fielding

FormatMatInnsNORunsHSAveBFSR100s50s4s6sCtSt
Tests243858157824.69127164.1203962150
ODIs3224346895*22.2848995.7001282190
T20Is462882605013.00219118.72011512190
FC8012214325012630.09514663.1512343555260
List A81568104895*21.83116989.64028427290
T20s22318134301272*20.482274132.45016223144850

Bowling

FormatMatInnsBallsRunsWktsBBIBBMAveEconSR4w5w10w
Tests244230911669474/585/9235.513.2365.7200
ODIs323212771323335/485/4840.096.2138.6110
T20Is46468691159495/105/1023.658.0017.7010
FC801341119862222067/5810/10130.203.3354.3771
List A817834973362995/485/4833.955.7635.3210
T20s223216419561082175/105/1028.148.7319.3430
Samuel Matthew Curran

Explore Statsguru Analysis

Test
ODI
T20I

Recent Matches of Sam Curran

MatchBatBowlDateGroundFormat
PBKS vs MI62/4118-Apr-2024MullanpurT20
PBKS vs RR62/2513-Apr-2024MullanpurT20
PBKS vs SRH292/4109-Apr-2024MullanpurT20
PBKS vs GT50/1804-Apr-2024AhmedabadT20
PBKS vs LSG03/2830-Mar-2024LucknowT20

Videos of Sam Curran

Photos of Sam Curran

Sam Curran dismissed Suryakumar Yadav
Sam Curran checks in on Rohit Sharma after hitting his helmet (off an attempted sweep)
Sam Curran dismissed Rohit Sharma
Sam Curran goes up - or down in this case - in appeal
All eyes on the coin as it goes up
Sam Curran picked up two big wickets in the 19th over
© 2024 ESPN Sports Media Ltd. All rights reserved