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He was one of England’s best cricketers when they won the T20 World Cup in Australia last month.
Now, Sam Curran is set to make millions after becoming the most expensive cricketer in Indian Premier League history on Friday when he returned to Punjab Kings for a staggering £1.85m.
Fortunately, the 24-year-old has someone by his side to share his success: glamorous girlfriend Isabella Symonds-Willmott, who graduated from the University of Exeter in 2019 and often accompanies him on his adventures around the world.
But Sam’s life has been upended by tragedy after losing his father at the age of 14; Cricketer Kevin Curran, who played for and then coached Zimbabwe, suffered a sudden heart attack and died aged 53, while jogging in October 2012.
Sam Curran (pictured) is set to make millions after becoming the most expensive cricketer in Indian Premier League history on Friday when he returned to Punjab Kings for a staggering £1.85 million.
Sam is just one part of an extraordinary cricketing family. While his father also played county cricket for Northamptonshire, his grandfather, also Kevin, played for Rhodesia.
His two brothers are also professionals; Tom, 27, also plays for England and Surrey, while Ben, 26, represents Northamptonshire.
However, it is Sam who has just won the highest ever auction price in the Indian Premier League tournament.
The bidding war for Sam involved multiple franchises and made him the highest-paid player in the most lucrative competition in the sport. He played for Punjab in 2019 but then moved to Chennai for two seasons.
Fortunately, the 24-year-old has someone by his side to share his success: glamorous girlfriend Isabella Symonds-Willmott.
Isabella graduated from the University of Exeter in 2019 and often joins him on his adventures around the world.
It propelled the 24-year-old past South African Chris Morris as the IPL’s most expensive buy and confirmed his position as one of the most exciting and marketable players in world cricket.
You can win a personal fortune of millions from this and other short-form tournaments around the world.
Sam and his glamorous girlfriend Issy have embraced this globe-trotting look and regularly post Instagram snaps from different countries.
Issy and his mum Sara were in Australia to watch him play for England in the World Cup group stage, before Sam and his girlfriend flew to Thailand for 10 days off before their next assignment.
The Curran family, with father Kevin and mother Sara and their three children, pictured during Kevin’s benefit year in Northamptonshire in 1998
Sam’s father Kevin played cricket for Zimbabwe and Northamptonshire, pictured
The photogenic couple often share photos on social media, including from their outings at Ascot and Glastonbury.
They also decked out in all their finery for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards ceremony in Manchester on Wednesday night.
Sam was born when his father played county cricket for Northamptonshire, but part of his upbringing was in Zimbabwe.
Although living in the country was a challenge at times. In 2004, former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe’s mob called his family home in Rusape, an hour and a half from Harare towards the Mozambique border.
They were given at least a month’s notice about Kevin’s status, luckier than some locals who were given just hours to get out as part of Mugabe’s program to redistribute land.
England cricket star Sam Curran and his girlfriend Isabella Symonds-Willmott at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards ceremony in Manchester this week.
Kevin was thought to have taken it very hard, which is not surprising since he was born on the farm and his mother’s ashes were scattered there.
But judging by Sam’s account, it still sounded like a wonderful setting for active parenting.
“My dad was the main inspiration for us brothers,” he previously told Cricinfo. ‘We were very competitive in garden cricket.
‘I used to be the main bowler because obviously the older brothers used to take up most of the time batting. I had my turn at the end for two minutes and they hit the ball over the tennis court and it was game over. Although all very funny.
“Obviously the tragedy of what happened to my father brought us back to the UK. I think now it couldn’t have worked better with the cricket.
All three Curran brothers are professional cricketers: Sam (left) and Tom (right) play for England and Surrey, while Ben (centre) represents Northamptonshire.
In October 2012, when Sam was 14, his father collapsed and died while jogging in Mutare. He was only 53 years old.
Sara and her three children returned to England, where they studied at Wellington College in Berkshire.
The sons’ natural gifts for cricket were quickly recognized and all three are now professionals.
The brothers, fans of sports, also played golf, rugby, tennis, hockey and squash growing up, but cricket would endear them to all three.
It was Tom who replaced Sam in the England squad for the 2021 T20 World Cup when he suffered a back injury that would keep him out for seven months.
Sam was just 17 years and 16 days old and still studying hard when he made his senior debut for Surrey in a T20 match against Kent in June 2015.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) named Sam one of the five outstanding stars in men’s cricket in 2018 and the 2019 edition of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack chose him as one of its five Cricketers of the Year.
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