Tom Curran is a bowling all-rounder from South Africa who represents England in international cricket. He was born on 12 March 1995 in Cape Town. He is a right-arm medium-fast bowler and a right-handed batsman.
Compared to the furious and fearsome Dale Steyn by former Surrey coach Chris Adams, Tom broke through to first appear for his county in 2013 in an ODI against Essex. After rising through the ranks, Curran soon made his ODI and T20 debut and impressed the cricketing fraternity with his gutsiness and work-ethic.
Tom Curran played for the KwaZulu Natal-Inland team in U-15, U-17 and U-19 cricket in the Three-Day Challenge competition. After moving to England, he joined the County cricket club Surrey in 2013. He made his senior debut for Surrey in a List A match against Essex in August 2013, and his First Class debut against Cambridge University in April 2014. In only the following season, Tom tallied 76 wickets for Surrey with his emerging bowling full of raw energy, the most notable of those being twin seven-wicket hauls against Gloucestershire and Northamptonshire, both teams which his father Kevin Curran once represented.
His performances for Surrey made him impress the national selectors of England cricket team. He played very well for two years and got selected for the England Performance Programme in 2015. He was eligible to play for England from October 2015.
Tom Curran was was announced as the replacement for Mitchell Starc by Kolkata Knight Riders for the 2018 Indian Premier League. He took 6 wickets in 5 matches with an average of 19.67 in the season but missed the next edition due to injury.
After a year on the sidelines, Rajasthan Royals bought the England all-rounder for INR 1 crore during the IPL Players Auction for the 2020 season. The 25-year-old can have a breakthrough IPL season if he gets a long rope in the hot and humid conditions of Dubai which he can surely exploit with his 'hit-the-deck' bowling.
Tom Curran made his ODI debut against West Indies on 29 September 2017 at The Rose Bowl in Southampton. Windies put a total 288/6 on the board with a half-century from Shai Hope. Tom returned with figures of 10-1-62-1. England's top 3 in Jason Roy (96), Jonny Bairstow (141*) and Joe Root (46*) were more than enough as they chased down the total in just 38 overs and won the match by 9 wickets.
His consistent, gutsy performances in the ODI arena earned him a call up to England's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup in April. However, with a stacked bowling unit under captain Eoin Morgan's disposal, Curran never got the chance to don the three-lions jersey. He was one of two players, along with Liam Dawson, who was unused as England won the tournament.
A top-class performer coupled with solid batting, he was offered an England call-up, for the Twenty20 series against South Africa in 2017. Curran had a fairly decent outing on debut and impressed with his guile. He made his T20I against South Africa on 23 June 2017 at The Cooper Associates County Ground in Taunton. The visitors made 174/8 in their 20 overs. Tom impressed with figures of 3/33 in his quota of 4 overs. England started the chase well but faltered, in the end, to lose the match by 3 runs. Curran in his relatively short career has played 21 T20Is and taken 23 wickets at an average of 26.73.
Tom Curran made his Test debut in the Boxing Day Test in 2017. He famously took the wicket of Australian opener David Warner on 99 off a no-ball. Later on, Warner was dismissed on 103. Curran took his maiden Test wicket as skipper Steve Smith chopped one onto the stumps. Curran ran-in hard and bowled long spells but much like his fellow pace bowlers, remained largely ineffective against a might Aussie batting line-up. He is still two-Test match young and has a lot to learn in the toughest format of the sport.
Tom Curran was born on 12 March 1995 and his father Kevin Curran was a former Zimbabwe cricketer. Tom is the brother of English all-rounder Sam Curran who has also represented England in all formats of the game. Tom Curran is eligible to play for South Africa, Zimbabwe and England.
