Kevin Curran

A seam bowling all-rounder, Kevin Curran was one of the finest cricketers produced by Zimbabwe. His international career was reduced to a mere 11 ODIs and it's unfortunate that he never played Test cricket with Zimbabwe not having full member status in his times. The best of Kevin came in the county circuit where he was a bonafide superstar, easily among the most popular overseas recruits and mighty effective as well. His medium pace exploited the English conditions extremely well, landing a tally of over 600 wickets and with the bat, he was equally competent, aggregating over 15,000 runs in his career with over 100 fifty-plus scores. He racked up over 1000 runs in a season a whopping five times through his career.

Even in the 50-over format, Kevin was a combative force with his aggressive brand of play making him a destructive proposition. His career in England spanned close to two decades, predominantly with Gloucestershire who after a dispute, decided not to renew the all-rounder's contract in 1990. Kevin then moved to Northamptonshire where he stayed on till his retirement in 1999. Zimbabwe gained Test status in 1990 and he could have thought about making a home comeback but he had become more English than Zimbabwean by then, being eligible for citizenship as well. He did coach his home nation though during the 2005-07 period. Kevin was just 53 when he passed away suddenly after collapsing during a jogging session. He has three sons, two of whom - Tom and Sam have already started to represent England. Incidentally, Kevin and his father shared the same first name.

Written by Hariprasad Sadanandan