July 19, 2024

Sam Curran’s homecoming hundred is a timely reminder of his immense batting potential – T20

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.

Sam Curran was on top of the world just over two years ago. The youngest Curran brother signed off 2022 by winning the title of Player of the Tournament 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 not just fall from grace, but also rise from the ashes. He faced challenges, slipping in and out of the England sides across their pair of meek World Cup defenses in 2023 and 2024, and going at more than 10 runs per over in both of his IPL campaigns. But he didn’t give up.

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, making his struggle all the more relatable.

His multifacetedness as a cricketer has also hindered his ability to settle into a role with the bat. He batted everywhere between one and eight in his 92 matches since the Melbourne final but has not been used in a single position in more than a quarter of those games.

Intriguingly, his returns differ depending on whether he is 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 and ability to adapt to the specific situation in front of him. This adaptability is also evident in his batting. 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 with a strategic approach. He first consolidated alongside Dom Sibley without letting the required rate spiral out of control, and then went 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 since he burst onto the scene the best part of a decade ago. Alec Stewart, Surrey’s director of cricket, has long believed that Curran’s permanent home will be in the top six. 

As early as 2015, when Curran spectacularly announced himself as a future 17-year-old prospect, Stewart said that Curran would eventually end up “in a Ben Stokes role at five or six.” Recent evidence shows that prediction still looks good, even if Curran’s route has been more circuitous than what might have initially been forecast. 

On paper, this was effectively a meaningless fixture. Surrey was already virtually assured of a home quarter-final, and Hampshire had already been 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 challenging year or so on the road. 

It was Curran’s first appearance at the Kia Oval in 2024. After an 18-month spell that often felt meandering, a trip home might have been precisely what he needed to get back on track.

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