England allrounder Tom Curran has signed a two-year contract with Melbourne Stars committing to be available for the next two Big Bash seasons plus finals.
Tom Curran makes his way back into his fifth BBL season after a forgettable BBL|13 stint with Sydney Sixers where he was suspended for four matches for intimidating an umpire before his tournament. Later his tournament was ended by a knee injury.
Curran who has been in impressive form for county side Surrey in this year’s T20 Blast (14 wickets at 11.14 and 133 runs) in his first matches since the injury, has been lured to Melbourne Stars for the entirety of the next two seasons plus finals.
Melbourne Stars Signs Tom Curran for BBL|14
Tom Curran joins Melbourne Stars under the BBL’s new multi-year contract option which allows clubs to sign one overseas player before the draft. Curran is the Melbourne Stars’ first acquisition of the off-season and joins the Stars after four seasons with the Sixers since BBL|08.
Kent’s Sam Billings was the first player to sign a multi-year deal in the BBL when he joined Sydney Thunder.
“I’m really looking to getting out to Australia in a few months and playing at the MCG which will be a great honour to call my home ground. You want to come in as an overseas player and have an impact and help win games, it’ll be a joy not having to bowl to Maxwell and Stoinis”, Curran said.
In an interview conducted by Stars, Curran revealed that former Stars skipper Glenn Maxwell helped convince him to make the switch when the pair spent time together for Royal Challenges Bengaluru in the IPL.
“I was at the IPL with Maxi at the time and I knew Peter Moores was the coach – who I’ve never worked with but who I’ve heard great things about. I had a decent idea of which players were part of team having played a fair bit against the Stars over the years. After the initial chat it didn’t take too long for me to decide to be honest”, Curran added.
Can’t wait to see you at the G, @TC59 pic.twitter.com/tyIyjqs2T7
— Melbourne Stars (@StarsBBL) June 24, 2024
Tom Curran’s 51 wickets in 36 matches for the Sixers is the third most for an overseas bowler in the BBL history behind Afghan spin wizard Rashid Khan (98) and Mujeeb Ur Rahman (52).
How BBL’s New Contract Rule Works?
In April, Cricket Australia introduced a new rule that allows clubs to directly sign one overseas player at a time for up to three years, allowing players to skip the uncertainty of the draft and negotiate directly with a club of their choice.
But the rule comes under one certain condition, players signed to a multi-year deal are required to be available for the entire season including finals, which was designed in part to help mitigate the loss of international players to rival T20 leagues, particularly in the men’s Big Bash competition.
Such direct signing will receive one of the existing salary bands(Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze) or at a negotiated price above the Platinum rate, which was $110,000 last WBBL season.
| Band | WBBL | BBL |
| Platinum | $110k | $420k |
| Gold | $90k | $300k |
| Silver | $65k | $200k |
| Bronze | Up to $40k | Up to $100k |
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