- Sam and Tom Curran became first brothers to take 10 wickets in an innings last season
- The pair have come through family upheaval to star for Surrey
- Their father Kevin Curran, himself a cricketer, died in 2012, aged 53
- Sam made the breakthrough into Surrey’s first team last season, at just 17
- Tom was named the county game’s young player of the season
County cricket may have receded from the public consciousness in recent decades, but it still has the capacity to throw up some remarkable happenings.
One such came at the end of last season, when young brothers Tom and Sam Curran pulled off the singular feat of taking all ten wickets between them in an innings when Surrey played Northamptonshire.
Sam being just seventeen and still a schoolboy made it all the more exceptional. During the 2016 season English cricket will occasionally divert its attention from the all-consuming interest in the national team to monitor their progress.
The Curran brothers, Tom (left) and Sam are one of the most remarkable stories around county cricket
Kevin Curran (centre) with his eldest two sons Tom and Ben, who has played for Northants seconds
It is all the more fascinating because just to get to this point Sam and Tom have needed to come through family upheaval and tragedy.
It is a tale that involves them having an idyllic early childhood in Zimbabwe interrupted by eviction at the hands of Robert Mugabe’s thugs from the family farm, and the untimely death of their father Kevin, himself a cricketer of renown.
With every audacious step the boys take – Sam starred for England Under 19s in this winter’s World Cup, Tom toured with the Lions while middle brother Ben has played for Northants seconds – it is hard not to reflect on how proud their father would have been.
Anyone who knew Kevin will recall a cricketer with an unusually competitive spirit, a talented all-rounder and abrasive opponent who played for Gloucestershire and Northants after gaining one day international caps for Zimbabwe.
He had a huge appetite for life, on and off the pitch. One memory from the mid-nineties is of him and Allan Lamb knocking off the winning runs in a county match that had gone the distance. They then literally sprinted off the field into a waiting car, speeding them to catch a flight to Scotland where they had a fishing trip planned.
Sam burst onto the scene last season, making his senior debut just forty days after his seventeenth birthday
Tom helped bowl Surrey to promotion, taking 76 championship wickets and 105 in all forms of the game
He was also a notably pristine athlete and fitness fanatic, keeping himself in shape long after his retirement in 1999. That had seen him return to Zimbabwe with his family, where one of his coaching jobs was with the national team.
It was therefore the most appalling shock when, in October 2012, he suffered a sudden heart attack and died aged 53, while out on an early morning jog.
At the time one of his jobs was supervising the installation of a new gym at the Test ground in Harare.
He had appeared in rude health, although living in Zimbabwe had inevitably been challenging at times.
This was especially so in 2004 when Mugabe’s mob came calling at their family home in Rusape, an hour and a half from Harare towards the Mozambique border.
Curran Snr was himself a cricketer of renown, who played the game with an unusually competitive spirit
Kevin was a talented all-rounder and abrasive opponent who played for Gloucestershire and Northants
It was the most appalling shock when, in October 2012, he suffered a sudden heart attack and died aged 53
They were, at least, given a month’s notice because of Kevin’s status, more fortunate than some neighbours who were given mere hours to get out.
Kevin inevitably took it hard, hardly surprising as he had been born on the farm and his mother’s Ashes were scattered there.
Judging by the account of Sam, still finishing off his A levels this term, it sounded like a wonderful setting for an active upbringing.
‘My dad was the main inspiration for us brothers,’ he told Cricinfo this winter.
‘We were very competitive in garden cricket. I used to be the main bowler because obviously the older brothers used to take most of the time batting. I got my turn at the end for two minutes and they would hit the ball over the tennis court and it was game over. All good fun though.
‘Obviously the tragedy of what happened to my father got us to move back to the UK. I think now it couldn’t have worked better with the cricket.’
Following the upheaval of losing their home they remained steeped in the game. The family were initially taken in by Geoff Marsh (ex Australia opener and then Zimbabwe coach), who lived in a house in Harare belonging to the national cricket board.
His son Mitch (the Australia all-rounder) lived there and ex Zimbabwe player Malcolm Jarvis and his son Kyle (now playing for Lancashire) were constantly around.
Tom, the eldest, was soon showing real promise and began boarding at the prestigious Hilton College in Durban, South Africa. But it was a road that led to England.
The Curran family, with wife Sara and the three boys, pictured during Kevin’s benefit year at Northants in 1991
In February 2012 he was playing in a tournament which had an Australian school participating. The visiting team’s coach was Ian Greig (brother of Tony and a former Surrey player) and, duly impressed, he alerted his connections at Surrey to the talent he had witnessed.
As it happened Surrey were touring Cape Town the following month and cricket director Alec Stewart invited Tom to join them.
Stewart was always an admirer of Kevin’s combative skills and, knowing that the apple rarely falls too far from the tree, became keen to secure Tom’s services.
A place was found at Berkshire’s Wellington College, with its majestic grounds and top class cricket facilities, for the term starting that September.
The following month their father passed away while on a road trip, coaching the Mashonaland Warriors.
In their hour of need they found help from Surrey, close family friend Lamb – the boys’ godfather – and Wellington, who offered generous scholarship terms to all three boys. It is yet another case of the independent sector’s growing influence on the English game.
Both Curran brothers will be key members of the Surrey attack as they look to stay in the top flight this year
As well as forming a formidable new ball partnership, both are accomplished batsmen in all forms of the game
There had always been, in any case, strong family links with England, and the decision was made to move back along with their mother Sara, who works for British Airways.
Sam had already broken numerous records in his age group for cricket in Zimbabwe. In late December they all moved and started school together the following week.
Within three months the boys had lost their father and moved to another country, although Ben and Sam had both been born here.
The achievement of Tom, 20, and Sam, still only 17, knocking over Northants between them last September was just the culmination of a remarkable 2015 season for ones so young.
Tom, a bustling seamer who can also bat, took 76 championship wickets in Surrey’s promotion push and 105 in all forms of the game. He was voted the county game’s young player of the season.
Left-armer Sam’s introduction to the first eleven after a stellar junior career has attracted arguably even more attention. Having finished the lower sixth summer term in July he made his senior debut just forty days after his seventeenth birthday.
He promptly took five wickets in an innings against Kent, becoming the youngest ever to gain such a Championship haul. In what was left of the season he took 44 wickets across all forms of the game.
Tom describes the excitement of playing alongside his sibling. ‘Unbelievable. I loved every minute of having my brother there and he was a breath of fresh air when he came into the side,’ he says. ‘ What we did together as a pair and Surrey as a team made me so proud.
‘To play for England together would be the dream. We’ve imagined it a few times in the garden and hopefully one day that would happen. He’s always been good. It would be the ultimate to play together for England. If we can play well for Surrey the rest will take care of itself.’ -Mailonline
