Curran brothers bowl out Northants to make history
The Curran brothers celebrating after getting a wicket
Tom and Sam Curran made history by becoming the first brothers in 65 years to share all ten wickets in one innings of the County Championship. They achieved this unique feat for Surrey by bowling out Northamptonshire, the county their late father – Kevin Curran – played for.
Tom, 20, took 7-35 with his right-arm-fast-medium and 17-year old Sam picked 3-46 with his left-arm swing as they bowled out Northants for a paltry 110 and thus forced them to follow-on.
The Curran brothers are the second pair of brothers to take all ten wickets in a Championship innings after Jack Oakes took 5-68 and Charlie Oakes 5-35 for Sussex against Somerset in 1950. Bernard and Nicolaas Scholtz recently achieved this feat, in 2011, for Namibia when they bowled out Kwa-Zulu-Natal.
In the Northants’ second innings, Tom Curran struck again in the third ball to put Northants in a situation facing innings defeat. This was before Ben Duckett and Alex Wakely showed resilience and application to take them to within 77 runs of avoiding innings defeat.
It was a day of multiple celebrations for Sam Curran, who earlier scored an unbeaten 61, his highest first-class score, and who was also called up for the England Under-19 squad for a tri-series against Sri Lanka and India in December.
This is a great achievement for the younger Curran, considering he made his first-class debut only in July 2015. He earned the honour of becoming the youngest player to take five wickets on County Championship debut.
Both Curran brothers are considered to be potential stars for the England national team. Their records this season speak for themselves.Tom has taken 74 wickets at an average of 22.09, while Sam took 21 wickets at an average of 24.14 and scored 239 runs at an average of 47.8. Surrey director of cricket, Alec Stewart spoke highly of the brothers.“The two Currans were quite outstanding,” he said.
“Sam batted very nicely for his first first-class fifty and the way Tom bowled was quite special. He’s just going from strength to strength which is great to see. He's just 20 but he’s done a man’s job. Whether he’ll be able to reach the same heights next year or the year after time will tell, but he has a very bright future.“
The achievements of the brothers surpassed the efforts made by Kumar Sangakkara, who scored his third century of the month in Surrey’s first innings.
Surrey sit on top of the LV County Championship Division Two table with Lancashire close behind them in second. If the Curran brothers can continue their good run of form with the ball, it could very well help Surrey in their bid for the title and a promotion to Divison One.