Fast bowling great Curtley Ambrose recalls his run-in with Steve Waugh in 1995, says basketball, not cricket, was his passion.
ST JOHN’S: Fast bowling great Curtley Ambrose says that spinners will have a key role to play in the upcoming Test series between India and West Indies as Caribbean conditions no longer favour the quick bowlers.
“The pitches in the Caribbean no longer find faster men licking their lips in anticipation. Instead, I expect spinners to play a big role in the forthcoming Test series,” says the bowler who himself was a menace for batsmen around the world before hanging up his boots after claiming 405 wickets in 98 Tests at an average of 20.99.
Ambrose, described by former Australian captain Steve Waugh as the “meanest and most perfect fast bowling machine of his time,” looks at the West Indies team and puts his finger on a few areas of concern. “Somebody like Fidel Edwards is not bad. He has the potential. But he doesn’t have anyone senior helping him through,” the Antiguan said.
Not only was Ambrose miserly, he was hostile too. He didn’t like interacting with opposition and revolted at the sight of news reporters. “I didn’t like to be friendly with rivals. I wanted them to feel the heat. And I didn’t like reporters because you people think you know everything,” he said. The world hasn’t heard his side of the story when he stood towering over Steve Waugh at the striker’s end in the 1995 home series, like a volcano about to erupt, when his captain Richie Richardson yanked him away.
“Yes man, I could have hit him. It was that close,” Ambrose said. Waugh himself has acknowledged in his autobiography that he feared a physical pounding from the mean fast bowler after he twice uttered a four-letter word in his frustration following his inability to hit anything in the middle of his bat. Ambrose is able to talk about it today because cricket is now out of his system.
“Cricket gave me an identity but it wasn’t my first love. I did it as a job, for me basketball and music were my true passions. I started the game very late, at around 21 years, and didn’t enjoy the day-to-day discipline. I packed up when my body told me to do so. I felt happy to be out of it,” Ambrose said. “I guess I was a natural. If my run-up was smooth and action fluent, it wasn’t because I trained for it.” After retirement, Ambrose does not miss cricket and is not an avid watcher.
“I sometimes see a few clips of play on television and that’s about it. I might not even come to watch the first Test on Friday,” he said.
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