by The announcement, made by the man
himself, that he would be retiring
from international cricket after the
West Indies cricket tour of England,
which gets under way this week, was
not altogether a surprise to anyone.
Frankly, even if Curtly Ambrose and
Courtney Walsh get 50 wickets
between them in the five Test series
against England, they still should
not be selected for Australia at the
end of the year, since that would
be putting off the inevitable, and
Australia, with its hard wickets, and
tough run-ups, would be much too
much for these guys, as tremendously
diligent as they always are.
Yet, when "Amby" gave me that
"scoop", in an interview after that
magnificent Pakistan v West Indies
game at Antigua, ironically Ambrose's
home ground, that he had told the
West Indies Cricket Board of his
intentions, it was still a bit of a
shock and rather sad too.
Perhaps he should have announced it
before the game started, so that he
could get the proper send-off,
probably tearful, that he deserved.
He does not deserve to just fade
away into the sunset. He deserves
much, much more.
Tremendous
Curtly has been tremendous for the
West Indies since his advent to
cricket in 1988, against Pakistan at
Georgetown, Guyana.
Getting wickets is fun for a bowler,
especially a fast bowler, since so
much work is put into the thing.
Believe me, I know. Curtly has
388 of them from 93 Test
appearances, second only to his
great fast bowling partner, Courtney
Walsh, who has 449, but he has been
playing since 1983, and has 117 Test
appearances.
It is almost a foregone conclusion
that Curtly will get the required 12
wickets against England for his 400 in
Test cricket. He must, or he will never
get it. It is that simple.
If he can get 11 wickets at a miserly
19.91 runs each against Pakistan, in
three Tests here on somewhat
lifeless pitches in the Caribbean, then
he should surpass that in five Tests
on the greener English pitches.
Destructive
I sometimes wonder which was his
most determined and destructive
effort. Would it have been that 8-45
against England in Barbados in April
1990, or the 6-24 at Port of Spain
when England needed 194 to win with
nearly two days to bat and Ambrose
decimated the batting on the
penultimate evening for 46? Both
were memorable, so you take your
pick.
Fast bowlers, originally, came in pairs
like Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thompson,
or Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller of
Australia, Fred Trueman and Brian
Statham, and Ken Higgs and John
Snow of England or even Wes Hall
and Charlie Griffith of the West
Indies.
But then along came Thomson, Lillee,
Gary Gilmour and Max Walker - no,
the West Indies with Michael
Holding, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner
and Colin Croft, were not the first
four-pronged pace attack, though it
could be argued that we were either
the best, or the worst, depending on
your perspective.
Walsh and Ambrose will stand
out forever, however, since
they have been a pair, although
ironically, they regularly appeared
in a four.
Sadly, one of their regular partners,
Malcolm Marshall, who managed that
376 wickets in 81 Tests, died
recently, but what a force they were,
especially when playing together
against England.
Of course, with all of the fast bowlers
considered by the West Indies for
their team since 1928, many want to
know who was the best, or which
combination was the best.
In a recent article, for the new
millennium, I suggested that, after
considerable thought the four fast
bowlers, (my four, not necessarily
yours), for a
Best-West-Indies-Of-All-Time team
would have been Wes Hall, Michael
Holding, Joel Garner and either
Malcolm Marshall or Andy Roberts.
Yet, if someone had a go at me for
not selecting either Walsh or
Ambrose, they would be justified,
since making a selection like that is
almost impossible.
It is very hard to please everyone
with that, but replacing either of my
four with "Amby" would not be
unacceptable. Over and over again,
Ambrose and his partner Walsh, have
proved that they are extremely
special.
Like "ackhee and saltfish", that great
Jamaican dish, they go together,
forever.
Meanness
The one thing that is special about
Curtly is his "meanness" with the
ball. He seldom gives the batsmen
any room to manouvre, and normally,
would move from having, say 0-35
from about 20 overs to having 4-40 in
24 overs.
Curtly Ambrose makes every run
count. He makes every delivery
useful.
As he puts it himself: "Crofty boy,
the batsmen should not get any free
runs. They should have to work just
as hard as I have to get a wicket. I
try to keep my figures tight, so that
when I do get a break-through, then
the figures are always tighter, and
my team benefits." I agree.
Curtly Ambrose normally gives the
best interviews. All one has to do
is give him the respect he deserves, and
rightly, demands. He is articulate,
always agitated about the game,
and always honest. His ideas
would fill a dictionary of cricket. The
guy knows his stuff.
I, for one, will miss him terribly, as
he has brought a certain dignity to
his trade, a certain toughness to his
game, always, but always, a certain
fairness to this great sport.
Curtly Ambrose is great, his
contributions for the West Indies
cricket team are great, and when he
gets those 12 wickets, his will
become greater still, since he will be
only the second West Indian, and the
fourth overall, after (Sir) Richard
Hadlee of New Zealand, Kapil Dev of
Indian and of course, Courtney
"Cuddy" Walsh, to make it there.
Now that four, with each having at
least 400 Test wickets, would be a
great fast bowling combination too.