Cliff Notes – Curran comes in from the cold with several points to prove
- Sam Curran, now 27, reflects on a decade in professional cricket, having played 471 matches and experienced both highs and lows, including being dropped from England’s white-ball squads.
- After returning to Surrey, Curran embraced a clearer role, focusing on becoming one of the top six white-ball batters in the country, while developing a unique super-slower delivery.
Curran comes in from the cold with several points to prove
In June of this year, it was the tenth anniversary of Sam Curran’s debut in professional cricket. Now 27 years old, he has played 471 professional cricket matches across his career. Stuart Broad managed 501.
“I’ve played a lot of cricket,” Curran says, speaking from Christchurch. “This year I went back to Surrey [after getting dropped by England]. And I sit here now and I’m probably thankful for the reset. I’ve been non-stop since I was 17.”
On that night at The Oval ten years ago, Curran’s Surrey captain was his current county coach Gareth Batty. A month later he claimed four wickets on his List A debut, and the teammate with whom he shared the new-ball duties, Jade Dernbach, is now his bowling coach in South London.
“I went back to coaches that know me,” Curran explains, “I’ve obviously experienced such highs in my career and it was just about slowing down fractionally and getting back to enjoying it.”
By all accounts, Curran took his omission from England’s white-ball squads earlier this year personally. Brendon McCullum had come in, and Curran had immediately gone out, as if confirming fears he’d aired a year earlier that he didn’t think his face fit in England’s Bazball era. He wasn’t six-foot-eight, and he wasn’t 90mph.
“As a county player, it’s an interesting one,” he told talkSPORT at the time. “Because you’ve got to hope that you fit that mould right now.”
This was the quiet part out loud – something that fans and journalists spoke about publicly, but rarely players.
If the decision to drop him was hard to take, the message of how to get back in was simple. Become one of the best six white-ball batters in the country.
Sam Curran struck early as South Africa’s innings faltered
“I actually really enjoyed the clarity of it,” Curran reflects. “It was so simple. In the past as an all-rounder I’ve played so many roles but now it was nice and clear.”
Curran returned to Surrey a man possessed. Determined to win every match whether with bat, ball or in the field. He played 24 games across the Blast and Hundred, giving him the time to impress with the bat, and also the time to develop with the ball. The super-slower moon ball has been added to his arsenal and means he is now a genuine option to Harry Brook across all phases of a T20 innings. It is a delivery that is currently unique to him in world cricket.
“I’m not going to give away any secrets,” he says with a laugh. “The grip is very similar and I want it to be similar so guys can’t really pick it. The game’s moving so fast you have to be adaptable.”
From being a man outside the squad, Curran has a chance to nail his role and become one of the most important players in the XI. Brook’s preference for two spinners, wherever England play, makes the presence of a seam-bowling all-rounder imperative.
“He’s a very, very, very good player,” Brook said of his friend after Curran’s 49 not out in the opening T20I of the series. “To have him back in the side, he’s a very valuable player to us.”
What do we think?
In truth, Curran’s 49 in Christchurch was a poor example of his quality. There are lottery winners who would’ve blushed at the fortune he was afforded across his innings. Dropped twice, once badly and the second time atrociously, before later being reprieved on review for an LBW decision for which he’d already walked off the pitch. But, clichés exist for a reason: runs are runs and look in the book etc.
The fact is, in returning to England’s white-ball squads, Curran has done the impossible. He has won back McCullum’s love. And that was achieved before his glorious (sketchy) 49 not out (for three).
Across McCullum’s tenure in English cricket, no-one has made their way back in after being left out. Alex Lees got an English summer. Sam Cook got a Zimbabwean Test. And Keaton Jennings got a Pakistani net. Please call them. We don’t know where they are.
Curran’s curse has always been the riches he bestows. Able to do everything and therefore expected to do anything. But to call him a jack-of-all-trades would be an insult. It is worth remembering just how prodigal Curran was and what exactly he has already accomplished.
The story those at Surrey tell is of a Year 12 student arriving at the ground for T20s in his school uniform, removing his blazer and tie then walking out in front of 25,000 people to do his thing. On his first-class debut, again, as a Year 12 student, he opened the bowling and took a five-wicket haul. In his third first-class match a month later, he opened the bowling and batted at No.3.
Those signs of promise translated into results as he was named as Player of the Series against India in 2018, his first summer as an international cricketer. Before he was later awarded Player of the Tournament in England’s World Cup win in 2022. He got an MBE for that.
“Winning the World Cup for England’s definitely the highlight,” he says, “and there’s that drive to do it again. That’s the pinnacle and I guess on tough days you look at that as your ‘lift me up’. There’s another World Cup in 3-4 months time and it’s exciting.”
It is in everyone’s interest that this time it works.