Curtly Ambrose – A true giant of cricket

3 Sep 2000: The West Indies bowling partnership Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose walk off together for the last time in a Test Match

Ambrose showed glimpses of his talent in the next series, which was against England. Along with Marshall, Ambrose took 57 out of the 93 English wickets in the series, as he finished with an impressive average, strike rate and economy.

The highlight of Ambrose’s career has been the many devastating spells that he has bowled. In the Bridgetown Test against South Africa in 1992, the visitors required 201 to win the match, and began the final day at 122-2 with Kepler Wessels and Peter Kirsten at the crease. Ambrose and Walsh displayed some inspired bowling to dismiss the Proteas for just 148, as Ambrose finished with excellent figures of 6-34 off 24 overs.

The Perth Test in 1993 saw the Aussie team bearing the brunt of Ambrose’s bowling where he crushed the batting line-up in a spell of just 32 balls to finish with incredible figures of 7 wickets for only 1 run. Six out of the seven wickets were caught by the wicketkeeper or in the slips. The balls would skid through the wicket and hurry on to the batsmen, who had no time to react.

If these were not enough, there was another bowling display in Trinidad against England in 1994, which left the English team spellbound. Chasing 194 to win the Test, the English team was bowled out for a meagre 46 with Ambrose returning with a rich return of 6-24. It was only the second time in the history of the Test cricket that only two bowlers were used to dismiss a batting side.

The Wisden Almanack described Ambrose’s performance saying “he came ‘rampaging in as if on springs,’ 6 for 24 as England were routed for 46 in Trinidad in 1994, stumps flying everywhere as a frenzied, cacophonous crowd bayed for English blood.”

Ambrose’s career wasn’t injury-free as he suffered from back strains which started limiting his participation and also affected his bowling. Before the English tour of the West Indies in 1998, the media started reporting of his rumoured retirement. However, Ambrose went on to play for two more years, before finally calling it a day in 2000, and was given a guard of honour from the English team when he walked out to bat in his final innings at The Oval.

When asked, whom he thought was the toughest batsman he bowled to, his terse response was “I didn’t like them anyway. A few of them were worthy but I wouldn’t take their names now and make them feel happy. I hated conceding runs. I had no sympathy for the batsman. I never wanted to hurt any batsman, but I never gave it easy. Even if I hurt a batsman once, I wouldn’t give it easy the next time.”

Ambrose is a true giant of the game of cricket, and he has enthralled the fans with many brilliant bowling displays. His colourful personality has continued to entertain people even after retirement and he is now a musician and plays guitar for the band ‘Big Bad Dread and the Baldhead’, which also features Richie Richardson. When asked about cricket, he replies that he hardly watches the game now, though he tries to keep track of the progress of the West Indian side.

A wonderful return of 405 wickets from 98 tests at an average of 20.99 and an economy of 2.30 bears testimony to a brilliant career. It is probably unfair that he is not considered in the same league as Lillie, Hall and Marshall, because he was equally as talented and motivated as the other legendary bowlers. With better support from the other West Indian fast bowlers, Ambrose could have scaled even further heights in his glorious career.