FORMER players from English County Championship clubs Northamptonshire and Gloucestershire will host a memorial match in honour of former Zimbabwe all-rounder Kevin Curran who died at the age of 53 late last year. REPORT BY DANIEL NHAKANISO
Curran, who played for both Northamptonshire and Gloucestershire in the 1980s, was serving as a Zimbabwe Cricket selector and coach of Mashonaland Eagles when he collapsed in Mutare while jogging in October last year.
His death shocked the cricketing world, particularly his former clubs. They have joined forces in arranging a contest between a Northamptonshire XI and Gloucestershire XI on Sunday, July 14.
The memorial match, which will be played at Wantage Road – Northamptonshire County Cricket Club’s home ground — will be played as a curtain-raiser to Northamptonshire’s Friends Life T20 game against Glamorgan later in the day.
During the encounter, money will be raised for the British Heart Foundation.
The match has been organised by former Northamptonshire batsman Alan Fordham, now the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) first-class cricket operations manager.
He said to the ECB’s official website: “The Northamptonshire dressing-room that I enjoyed for many years lost its first member in Kevin Curran. A popular member of the team, I set about organising this memorial match in Kevin’s honour and have managed to get together two teams from his playing days.
“We are planning a fund-raising lunch between the two matches and a bucket collection around what should be a decent crowd for the afternoon match if the sun shines.
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“I am of course most grateful to Northamptonshire CCC and my former teammates for their support in this fundraising effort.”
Curran was one of the most effective overseas players in English cricket in the decade from the mid-1980s, scoring 1 000 runs five times in a season. Gloucestershire controversially declined to renew his contract at the end of 1990 and he moved to Northamptonshire where he played until his retirement in 1999.
