Sam Aims To Play It Again With Surrey...

Charlie Talbot-Smith speaks to Surrey and England’s teenage prodigy, Sam Curran, about the next phase of his burgeoning career

- Charlie Talbot-Smith

Sam Curran’s Netflix account has taken a pounding this summer as the 19-year-old has travelled half of the cricketing world. From New Zealand, back to England, off to Australia and now the Caribbean, Curran’s taste in TV series has kept him sane on those long-haul flights.

But this summer, the Surrey youngster wants to become the star of the show himself in the middle-order at the Oval. Still just a teenager, Curran is clearly brimming with confidence after a spell with Auckland in the Super Smash, his first England call-up for the T20 series against Australia and then a three-match series with the Lions in the Caribbean. And he is happy to name check a certain Ben Stokes as the man he is looking to emulate.

“The batting was a big work-on for me this summer,” he said. “In the future I probably see myself batting somewhere in the role that Ben Stokes does – four, five or six is where I want to be and bowling as well.

“But the main thing this winter was to work on a few things with the batting, to try and understand that side of my game a bit more. I have had a few nice scores this winter and hopefully I can take that into the Surrey season.

“Growing up I was more of a batter, I would say. But then when I grew a bit taller and stronger I got a bit quicker with the ball. I came into the Surrey side when they had a few injuries, the likes of Chris Tremlett and Jade (Dernbach), that got me my go as a bowler.

“But I definitely see myself as a batsman. I had some great chats with Stokesy while I was away in New Zealand. And being around those guys, just seeing how they train apart from anything else – I have taken that away into my game and my training.