Sam Curran

Samuel Matthew Curran (born 3 June 1998) is an English cricketer who plays for England in all formats.

In domestic cricket, he represents Surrey, and has played in multiple Twenty20 leagues.

He was bought by Punjab Kings for ₹18.5 Cr On 23 December 2022.

Sam Curran was born on 3 June 1998 in Northampton, England, as the third son of the former Zimbabwe international cricketer Kevin Curran and his wife Sarah (while his father played county cricket for Northamptonshire).

He is the youngest brother of a Surrey and England cricketer Tom Curran, and a former Northamptonshire cricketer Ben Curran.

He grew up in Zimbabwe and was educated at Springvale House, Marondera and St. George's College, Harare.

He spent his early years on the family farm in Rusape before the family left the farm during a period of land reform in Zimbabwe.

Curran represented Zimbabwe Cricket U13s cricket team at the 2011–12 CSA U13 Week in South Africa, where he won the player of the tournament.

In 2012, he moved to England and was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire.

Curran represented Surrey at Under-15, Under-17, and Second XI level.

During the 2014 season he represented Weybridge in the Surrey Championship Premier Division.

He was described by Surrey director of cricket Alec Stewart as "the best 17-year-old cricketer that I have seen".

Curran made his senior debut in a Twenty20 match in the NatWest t20 Blast tournament against Kent at The Oval on 19 June 2015, aged 17 years and 16 days.

He made his first-class debut in a County Championship fixture against Kent at The Oval on 13 July 2015.

At the age of 17 years and 40 days he became Surrey's second youngest first-class cricketer in history after Tony Lock, who debuted exactly 69 years earlier at the age of 17 years and 8 days, also against Kent at The Oval.

He returned figures of 5/101 in the first innings, and is believed to be the youngest-ever player to take five wickets in a County Championship match.

He made his List A debut in a Royal London One-Day Cup match against Northamptonshire at The Oval on Thursday 27 July 2015.

He represented England Under-19s at the 2016 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup, where he played all six games, scoring 201 runs and taking seven wickets to help his team finish sixth.

He was selected for the England Lions for their 2016–17 tour of the United Arab Emirates, and again for their match against South Africa A at Canterbury in the 2017 season.

He was signed by Auckland Aces for the 2017–18 Super Smash.

Curran made his Test and One Day International debuts in 2018, and his Twenty20 International debut in 2019.

He was part of the England team that won the 2022 T20 World Cup, taking the most wickets for England at the tournament and was named Player of the Tournament.

He plays as a left-handed all-rounder, bowling medium fast.

He holds the English record for the best T20I bowling figures, 5–10 against Afghanistan in 2022.

In the 2023 Cricket World Cup, Curran became the first English bowler to take a wicket off the very first ball on World Cup debut.

In December 2018, he was bought by the Kings XI Punjab in the player auction for the 2019 Indian Premier League for 7.20 crore Rupees (US$1 million).

Curran received his first senior call-up for England in January 2018 for the 2017-18 Trans-Tasman Tri-Series against Australia and New Zealand, but did not play any games.

On 30 May 2018 he was added to the England Test squad ahead of the second Test against Pakistan, as cover for Ben Stokes.

He made his Test debut at Headingley on 1 June 2018.

Curran scored 20 in England's only innings, and returned match figures of 2/43.

On 24 June 2018, he made his One Day International debut against Australia.

In March 2019, he was named as one of eight players to watch by the International Cricket Council (ICC) ahead of the 2019 Indian Premier League tournament.

In the 2019 Indian Premier League, he scored quickfire 20 runs as opener and took a hat-trick in his second match, against Delhi Capitals which helped Kings XI Punjab to win by 14 runs, earning him the player of the match award.

He also scored a quick fifty of just 23 balls against Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2019 Indian Premier League.

He was released by the Kings XI Punjab ahead of the 2020 IPL auction.

In the 2020 IPL auction, he was bought by the Chennai Super Kings ahead of the 2020 Indian Premier League.

In April 2022, he was bought by the Oval Invincibles for the 2022 season of The Hundred.

In June 2022, Curran took his first five-wicket haul in Twenty20 cricket, with 5/30 against the Hampshire Hawks in the 2022 T20 Blast.

Later the same month, in the County Championship match against Kent, Curran scored his maiden century in first-class cricket, with 126 runs.

He reached his hundred off just 62 balls.