First published in the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack 2019, Simon Wilde profiles England’s Sam Curran – one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year.
Rarely has English cricket seen a player so young display such talent for shaping big matches as Sam Curran in 2018. Chosen as a bowling all-rounder, two days before his 20th birthday, he was reckoned by some to be too short,at 5ft 9in, and too slow, at 80mph, to succeed at the highest level.
Within weeks, the doubts were forgotten, after he emerged as an all-round match-winner in a taut first Test against India at Edgbaston. Despite missing the third to make way for Ben Stokes, available again after his court case, Curran still finished with 272 runs, 11 wickets and the series award.
Forty eight hours later, he joined his Surrey team-mates at Worcester to celebrate their first title since 2002. Among England-qualified players, and excluding wartime schoolboys, only Jack Crawford, at 20 years four months, has been a Wisden Cricketer of the Year at an earlier age.
Curran continued to show remarkable match awareness in Sri Lanka, playing important innings at No.8 in the first two Tests, before sitting out the last with a side strain; he was also promoted to the new ball, though spin friendly conditions limited his impact. In all, he had appeared in seven Tests, and won the lot, and arguably established himself as the most effective young Test cricketer England had ever produced.
No one under the age of 21 had managed more than his 404 runs or three fifties, all brought up with sixes (a Test record); only Bill Voce, another left-armer, had bettered his 14 wickets. He had also hit 14 sixes, the third-most in Tests in 2018. The icing came when Kings XI Punjab handed him an IPL contract worth over £800,000.
When tragedy struck and Kevin died of a heart attack in October 2012 at the age of 53, the two younger boys and their mother, Sarah, from whom Kevin had separated, returned to England. With Lamb’s help, they joined Tom at Wellington, also on scholarships. The three were there together for 18 months.
“Wellington was my biggest kick-on in terms of development – that and the Surrey age-groups,” says Curran. “Once I came over and saw the cricketing structures, it hooked me even more to the game.” Dan Pratt, the cricket master, said the most competitive thing he saw at the school was the Currans netting together: “There was no love lost.”
Sam Curran had achieved a lot, but a maiden hundred remained elusive. It was surely only a matter of time. “I’ve been telling people since Sam was 13 that he had the potential to be a top-six batsman,” said Lamb, who remains a key adviser. “The self-belief is amazing. Nothing really fazes him.”
