Sam Curran struck one of the innings of the T20 Blast group stage at the Kia Oval on Thursday night against Hampshire, hitting an unbeaten hundred to rescue Surrey from 27-3 in what would ultimately be a successful chase of 184.
Fewer than two years ago Sam Curran was on top of the world. The youngest Curran brother signed off 2022 by picking up the Player of the Tournament award in a victorious T20 World Cup campaign and a bumper IPL deal – the highest of the auction – worth in the region of £1.85million. Still just 24, the world was at his feet.
The months that followed saw Curran maybe not crash back down to earth, but at least lose his firm footing at the top, slipping in and out of the England sides across their pair of meek World Cup defences in 2023 and 2024, and going at more than 10 runs per over in both of his IPL campaigns.
There has been a sense of a player whose mojo has just gone missing momentarily as he trots around the globe from one white-ball assignment to the next. He is effectively the busiest seam-bowling all-rounder on the circuit. Since the 2022 T20 World Cup final, only Tim David, Sikandar Raza and Imad Wasim have played more T20 matches than Curran; the relentlessness of the schedule seldom leaves space for pause and reflection.
His multifacetedness as a cricketer has also hindered his scope for settling down into a role with the bat in particular. In his 92 matches since the Melbourne final, he batted everywhere between one and eight, but has not been used in a single position in more than a quarter of those games.
Intriguingly, there is a marked difference in his returns depending on whether or not he is more of a middle order player or a finisher. Batting between three and five, he averages 27 and strikes at 135.37; between six and eight those numbers collapse to 13.25 and 115.21 respectively.
At his best with the ball, Curran is given credit for his smarts, his ability to adapt to the specific situation that’s in front of him. It makes sense that his best with the bat therefore comes when he has more time to shape a game, as he did so expertly against Hampshire last night.
Walking into the crease with Surrey 27-3 in a chase of 184 against a strong Hampshire attack, Curran managed the chase to perfection, at first consolidating alongside Dom Sibley without letting the required rate spiral out of control, and then going in for the kill, mercilessly targetting the shorter boundary at both ends in tandem with the right-hander Jamie Overton, the pair doing a stellar job of ensuring that the right man was on strike to attack the shorter side at all times.
He struck six sixes in total – including one that brought up his first professional T20 hundred – displaying a purity of ball-striking he has had ever since he burst onto the scene the best part of a decade ago. Alec Stewart, the director of cricket at Surrey, has long been a believer that Curran’s permanent home will be in the top six. As early as 2015 when Curran spectacularly announced himself as a future prospect as a 17-year-old, Stewart said that Curran would eventually end up “in a Ben Stokes role at five or six.” On recent evidence, that prediction still looks like a good one, even if Curran’s route there has been more circuitous than what might have initially have been forecast.
On paper, this was effectively a meaningless fixture. Surrey were already virtually assured of a home quarter-final and Hampshire were already eliminated. But Curran’s impassioned reaction to reaching three figures and the raw, unfiltered delight on Stewart’s face when he greeted the returning Curran on the dressing room steps showed just how significant that performance was, not only for Surrey, but for Curran after a difficult year or so on the road.
It was Curran’s first appearance at the Kia Oval in 2024. After an 18-month spell that has often felt meandering, a trip home might well have been exactly what he needed to get back on track.
Image credits: Surrey Cricket/Surrey live stream
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