The globe-trotting Sam Curran is wanting to make an impact for the Sydney Sixers in his three-match BBL|15 stint before leaving for national duties
Four days, two clubs, one goal: Non-stop Curran's BBL mission
Sam Curran has barely had time to put the feet up after captaining the Desert Vipers to its maiden ILT20 title in a Player of the Match performance just a few short days ago.
But the life of a franchise cricketer rarely comes with extended down-time. That's just a part of the caper, he says, now on the other side of the world in Australia, draped in fresh colours and surrounded by all-new teammates.
After an evening of jubilant celebrations of the Vipers' first championship on January 4, the 27-year-old Englishman was soon on a 13-hour flight the next morning from Dubai, en-route to Melbourne to link up with the Sydney Sixers.
One net session at the MCG as preparation, and Curran was quickly thrust into the line-up a day later for his BBL debut; successful in the end after his expensive first over (21 runs) was remedied by a handy 17 with the bat as the Sixers scampered to a six-wicket win.
It's been a marathon few days for Curran after his match-winning 74 not out in the IT20 Final — the cherry on top of a campaign which netted him Player of the Series honours for his 397 runs — but one done in the hopes of contributing towards his new franchise's push towards finals.
"It's all part of it, I guess that's what you sign up for. I'm young, I'm enjoying my cricket trying to win tournaments and help contribute, which is the main thing," Curran said following his BBL debut at the MCG.
"You've got to embrace it, it's quite hard coming into new teams. It probably helped here in Sydney that I knew people like 'Motty' (Sixers coach Matthew Mott) being England's (white-ball) coach a few years ago.
"Moises Henriques and Sean Abbott played in Surrey with me, so I've kind of got that connection, which I thought was going to be nice."
Curran's stint in Sydney will be short-lived having been selected in England's ODI squad to take on Sri Lanka and the T20 World Cup squad alongside fellow BBL internationals Jamie Overton, Luke Wood and Rehan Ahmed.
The Sixers have confirmed the allrounder will be available for the club's three remaining matches against the Hurricanes (11 January), Thunder (16 January) and Heat (18 January) before he links up with England for the first ODI against Sri Lanka in Colombo on 22 January.
Previous cricket commitments in the T20 circuit have precluded Curran from joining the BBL earlier, but an opening in the schedule and some encouragement from older brother Tom was all he needed to make the journey down under.
"My brother's played loads of Big Bash and he's always said how much he's enjoyed it," Curran said.
"I've never really had the time in terms of fitting it in (with) the schedule, but as soon as the opportunity came to come to the Big Bash (I took it). I'm thankful I got picked up.
"It's a great country, a great tournament and tonight shows. My first experience of it is noisy, there's a lot of kids around and it's a great place to play cricket."
A Big Bash contest between the Curran brothers will have to wait another season however, with Tom withdrawn an hour before last nigh's match with hip soreness.
The eldest of the Curran siblings, former Sixer Tom has thrived for the Melbourne Stars this season with 10 wickets from his six matches.
"I don't think it's anything too serious, he picked up a little niggle," Curran said.
"I think it was obviously annoying for him and annoying for us (not) to have a little battle out there, but hopefully he's not too bad.
"He's had a great start to the Big Bash, so fingers crossed he'll keep going well."
Following last night's successful run chase, the Sixers have chalked up three wins on the trot to remain in fourth position with a 4-3 ledger.
As the race towards a spot in finals heats up, the men in magenta are primed for a huge boost for their remaining matches.
Ashes stand-in skipper Steve Smith is slated to join the Sixers for their next match against the Hurricanes at the SCG, before Compton-Miller medallist Mitchell Starc follows suit for the Sydney Smash on 16 January.
"It'd be a cool experience to get world-class players in the team like that," Curran said.
"That's a big part of international and franchise cricket, I guess. You get to play with guys you normally play against as opposition, and then as teammates."
KFC BBL|15 standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
SCO
|
10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.363 | 0 | 14 |
|
2
SIX
|
10 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.605 | 0 | 13 |
|
3
HUR
|
10 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.331 | 0 | 13 |
|
4
STA
|
10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.759 | 0 | 12 |
|
5
HEA
|
10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.431 | 0 | 10 |
|
6
STR
|
10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -0.231 | 0 | 8 |
|
7
REN
|
10 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.202 | 0 | 6 |
|
8
THU
|
10 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | -1.212 | 0 | 4 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points