Matches (22)
WI vs ENG (1)
WCL 2 (2)
India vs New Zealand (1)
AUS-A vs IND-A (1)
Sheffield Shield (3)
Hong Kong Sixes (10)
WBBL (3)
BAN vs SA (1)

Full Name

Samuel Matthew Curran

Born

June 03, 1998, Northampton

Age

26y 150d

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
T20Is533292915012.65247117.81011812220
FC8212414326612629.69516963.1812343755260
List A81568104895*21.83116989.64028427290
T20s250201393619102*22.332685134.78121258177960

Bowling

FormatMatInnsBallsRunsWktsBBIBBMAveEconSR4w5w10w
Tests244230911669474/585/9235.513.2365.7200
ODIs323212771323335/485/4840.096.2138.6110
T20Is53539711346545/105/1024.928.3117.9010
FC821381150263352127/5810/10129.883.3054.2871
List A817834973362995/485/4833.955.7635.3210
T20s250241462868012475/105/1027.538.8118.7440

Sam Curran T20 Stats

Batting & Fielding

TournamentTeamsMatInnsNORunsHSAveBFSR100s50s4s6sCtSt
The Hundred Men's CompetitionOI-M282425196823.59368141.03032733140
Vitality BlastSUR796981514102*24.811111136.2711110873290
IPL2 teams59481388363*25.22647136.47057437220
International League T20DV221241724.0020120.00001110
SA20MICT191842313816.50195118.4600141460

Bowling

TournamentTeamsMatInnsBallsRunsWktsBBIBBMAveEconSR4w5w10w
The Hundred Men's CompetitionOI-M282748569933 5/16 5/1621.188.6414.6010
Vitality BlastSUR79721392194173 5/26 5/2626.588.3619.0320
IPL2 teams59581181190058 4/11 4/1132.759.6520.3100
International League T20DV2248684 2/29 2/2917.008.5012.0000
SA20MICT191933653314 3/26 3/2638.079.5124.0000
Samuel Matthew Curran

Explore Statsguru Analysis

Test
ODI
T20I

Recent Matches of Sam Curran

MatchBatBowlDateGroundFormat
Surrey vs Durham81/44 & 4/2317-Sep-2024The OvalFC
England vs Australia11/3713-Sep-2024CardiffT20I # 2851
England vs Australia181/3511-Sep-2024SouthamptonT20I # 2850
Surrey vs Durham521/2403-Sep-2024The OvalT20
Surrey vs Lancashire81/21 & 0/2522-Aug-2024The OvalFC

Videos of Sam Curran

Photos of Sam Curran

Tom Curran and Sam Curran celebrate Invincibles' title
Sam Curran and Jordan Cox embarked on a rebuild
Sam Curran's final set of five cost three runs and included two wickets
Sam Curran's fifty came up off 31 deliveries
Sam Curran finished the game with his fifth wicket
Sam Curran clubbed a 21-ball half-century