Upon arriving the shores of Cape Town in January 2018. Ben Curran’s cricketing career seemed to be on a knife edge. After joining Wellington College to complete his education, he found himself playing for the U17s and 2nd XI cricket for Surrey. Since then he was contracted to the MCC Young Cricketers and trialing at various counties. Whilst there he played along Saf Imtiaz, who had attended the GKC High performance Academy in 2017. “Saf had such high praise about the program and the coaching expertise, I knew attending the GKC would stand me in good stead going forward”. It wasn’t only that he was seeking by joining up with GKC, “I wanted a fresh perspective from new coaches who could provide me with new ideas and learning points that I could implement in my game”.
Ben returned to the UK in March to resume his time with the MCC YC’s having ironed out some chinks in his technique and in his game plans. “I came away feeling like I had a great understanding of how I wanted to play which put me in a good place for the season ahead”. Ben started off the season scoring runs in both red and white ball cricket, this included a 161 vs Worcestershire 2nd XI in the championship, 80 against Leicester in a 50 over game and 94 against Yorkshire in a T20 in the first month and he has not looked back.
Midway in the season, he was given an opportunity to join Northantamptonshire CCC 2nd XI and through trusting his processes started to return some great performances. He was rewarded by being selected for the 1st XI to play against Derbyshire in the NatWest Blast and has recently been selected to play in the County Championship opening the batting alongside Ricky Vasconcelos who is a long term attendee at the GKC. With 3 games left to go in the season Ben has been awarded a contract with the county for next season and hopes to end off the year with a bang.
Ryan Cook, the High performance Director at GKC said, “We are so proud of Ben’s accomplishments this season. He arrived very determined and motivated to take his game to the next level and I am glad to see him starting to fulfill his potential. To be a part of any players journey is special and this is marks the beginning of another road.” Ben reflected these sentiments, “I hope to return to the GKC next year to continue the strides we made at the start of the year, I felt the balance between training and down time was perfect as it allowed me to focus hard on my cricket and keep me refreshed going back into the new season”.
We will keep tracking his progress and providing updates on his performances. For more information on the GKC High performance Academy go to www.garykirsten.com/highperformanceacademy
