The cricketing fraternity has been fortunate to see a few brother pairs play at the highest levels for their countries. From Steve and Mark Waugh of Australia, Andy and Grant Flower of Zimbabwe or the Pandya brothers of India, several families have seen two siblings make it to the top of the cricketing pyramid and take to the field together.

For young English star Sam Curran, the story was no different when he got the opportunity to share the dressing room and the field with brother Tom on his debut overseas tour with England.

“Playing my debut tournament in Sri Lanka with him (Tom Curran) was pretty special. Playing together for the country was very memorable,” Sam Curran told KXIP.in.

While they may be thicker than ever when they played together for the country, Sam revealed that he and his brother were extremely competitive and always tried to get one over the other during their younger days.

“I started playing cricket when I was five or six, in the garden with my family. My brother and I were always very competitive when we played in the gardens or anywhere else. We were always messing around with each other and tried to get each other out. It was a lot of fun,” remembers the left-arm pacer.

Curran was born in Zimbabwe and spent almost half his years there before he and his brother Tom were scouted by a talent program from Surrey and invited to play for the English county. Since moving to the island country, both their careers have taken shape brilliantly with younger brother Sam claiming ten wickets in a domestic red ball game against a Yorkshire side which had Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Cheteshwar Pujara. Elder brother Tom too has prospered, approaching 200 wickets in First Class cricket and regularly playing for the national side in ODIs.

Their plaudits in the domestic game were finally rewarded when first Tom made his international debut again Australia in January, 2017 and Sam got his chance almost a year and a half later at home against Pakistan before they finally got the opportunity to play together in that ODI in Sri Lanka last season.

From playing in their back gardens in Zimbabwe to representing Surrey in the English county circuit, to finally playing together for their country, the Curran brothers have come a long way. For a nation that had yet not a prominent pair of brothers playing at the highest level, Tom and Sam could be the first to fill up two places in that roster for the decade to follow.