CURRAN WELL WORTH AN IPL KINGS RANSOM Talented Sam’s ready to take on the Aussies
THE Kings XI Punjab shelled out £800,000 on Sam Curran last week. He’s joining an aptly-named franchise given that his signing crowned an extraordinary year for one of world cricket’s most exciting young stars.
Still only 20, Curran began the year watching his big brother, Tom, make his England Test bow in the Ashes Down Under.
Now it’s Sam who is looking forward to clashing with the Aussies on home soil after emerging as one of England’s standout performers, first against India and then against Sri Lanka as Joe Root’s youthful side have won eight of their past nine Tests.
Curran was man of the series as England thrashed world number one side India in the summer. Hardly surprising given his performances with ball and particularly bat against Virat Kohli’s side.
Those heroics clearly had some bearing on his standing in India as the 2019 IPL auction got under way but the level-headed Curran – who also helped Surrey to their first County Championship title since 2002 last season – is unlikely to be getting too carried away.
It doesn’t appear to be in his nature.
“He’s a pretty extraordinary kid,” says former Surrey skipper Adam Hollioake, who is now the assistant coach at Queensland in Australia’s Sheffield Shield.
“Not a lot seems to faze him.”
That’s a quality that
Curran has shown since his days at Wellington
College, which he attended after first arriving in England following the death of his father Kevin in
Zimbabwe in 2012.
So impressive was he, that one member of staff put some money on him playing for England before the decade was
out. Curran was only 14 at the time, which provides an indication of just how precociously gifted the left-armer was at that age.
Dan Pratt is Wellington’s master in charge of cricket and watched with wide-eyed wonder as Curran began flaying bowling attacks and running through batting line-ups in this quiet corner of Berkshire.
“You can obviously never really tell if a player is going to make it at the very highest level,” says Pratt. “But you did think, if Sam doesn’t, then just how good do you have to be?
“But it wasn’t just the way he played his cricket, it was the way he acted and the maturity he showed at such a young age. “I don’t think the sibling rivalry did him any harm either, I don’t think any of the three boys (Tom, Sam and middle brother Ben) ever took a step back.”
Despite his obvious gifts, Curran’s progress in 2018 has been startling. It wasn’t so much the runs he scored and the wickets he took that really stand out, though.
It’s more the manner in which he played and the situations he has responded to.
His second-innings 63 against India in the opening Test at Edgbaston, after England had lost three wickets for two runs, ultimately inspired a win that set the tone for the remainder of the summer.
The speed at which he scored his runs also succeeded in tearing the initiative from India’s hands.
Allan Lamb, who has known the Curran boys since they were tiny figures dwarfed by over-sized bats on the outfield at Northamptonshire, famously predicted that Curran would one day bat in the top six for his country. “I’m not changing that,” he said. “He’s still so young and he can add those extra yards of pace you need at the top level too.”
After a breathless 2018, Curran can sit back and enjoy his turkey in the knowledge that he has already achieved an remarkable amount. England will hope the best is yet to come.