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Curtly
Ambrose
 |
| Personal information |
| Full name |
Curtly Elconn Lynwall Ambrose |
| Born |
21 September 1963 (1963-09-21) (age 46)
Swetes, Antigua and
Barbuda |
| Height |
6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) |
| Batting style |
Left-handed batsman |
| Bowling style |
Right-arm fast |
| Role |
Bowler |
| International information |
| National side |
West Indies |
| Test debut (cap 192) |
2 April 1988 v Pakistan |
| Last Test |
31 August 2000 v England |
| ODI debut (cap 53) |
12 March 1988 v Pakistan |
| Last ODI |
23 April 2000 v Pakistan |
| Domestic team information |
| Years |
Team |
| 1985–2000 |
Leeward Islands |
| 1998–1999 |
Antigua and Barbuda |
| 1989–1996 |
Northamptonshire |
| Career statistics |
| Competition |
Tests |
ODIs |
FC |
List
A |
| Matches |
98 |
176 |
239 |
329 |
| Runs scored |
1439 |
639 |
3448 |
1282 |
| Batting average |
12.40 |
10.65 |
13.95 |
11.98 |
| 100s/50s |
0/1 |
0/0 |
0/4 |
0/0 |
| Top score |
53 |
31* |
78 |
48 |
| Balls bowled |
22103 |
9353 |
48798 |
17143 |
| Wickets |
405 |
225 |
941 |
401 |
| Bowling average |
20.99 |
24.12 |
20.24 |
23.83 |
| 5 wickets in innings |
22 |
4 |
50 |
4 |
| 10 wickets in match |
3 |
n/a |
8 |
n/a |
| Best bowling |
8/45 |
5/17 |
8/45 |
5/17 |
| Catches/stumpings |
18/0 |
45/0 |
88/0 |
82/0 |
|
Source: [4], September 1
2007 |
Curtly Elconn Lynwall Ambrose (born September
21, 1963) is a former West Indian cricketer. His skill was as a right-arm fast bowler,
especially in partnership with Courtney Walsh. His huge 6'7" (2.01 m)
frame was a fearsome sight for any batsman; even when his pace fell
away due to age, he still bowled excellent line and length and, due
to his height, could extract steepling bounce from any pitch — a
threat to even the finest of batsmen. With Walsh, he formed one of
the greatest opening bowling partnerships in history, as evidenced
by the 421 wickets they shared in the 49 Test matches they played
together.
Born in Swetes, Antigua he played for the Leeward
Islands, Northamptonshire
County Cricket Club, and the West Indian cricket team. Ambrose made his
Test debut in
April 1988 at Georgetown, Guyana against Pakistan and retired at the end of the England tour in August 2000.
A graph showing Ambrose's test career bowling statistics and how
they have varied over time.
In Test cricket, he had 98 caps, bowled 1,001 maiden overs
(roughly two in every seven) and took 405 wickets (making him only
the fifth to exceed the 400 barrier) at an average of
20.99. This superb average is marginally bettered only by fellow
West Indians Malcolm Marshall (20.94) and Joel Garner (20.97)
among bowlers who have taken more than 200 wickets. In addition,
Ambrose also boasts the best economy rate of any of the nine
bowlers who have taken 400 or more Test wickets, at 2.31 per over.
His best performance was eight for 45 against England at Barbados in 1990 (in 34 Tests
against England he took 164 wickets, dismissing Mike Atherton
seventeen times); he took five wickets or better on 22 occasions,
including seven wickets for one run against Australia at the WACA, in Perth, in 1993. He also bowled
an infamous fifteen-ball over at the same ground: it contained nine
no-balls and took twelve minutes to bowl, making it possibly the
longest over in Test cricket. He overstepped the crease by a
considerable margin and it was regarded that he deliberately did so
to come closer to the batsmen to intimidate them.
In 176 one-day
internationals, Ambrose took 225 wickets. Despite certain
pretensions as a left-handed batsman, and a single Test fifty to
his credit (53 against Australia in 1991), he did not distinguish
himself with the bat.
Ambrose was a man of few words, refusing countless interview
requests with the motto "Curtly talk to no man."[1]
Legacy and life after
cricket
Having retired from cricket, Ambrose now plays guitar in a
reggae band called Big Bad Dread and the Baldhead
alongside former team-mate Richie Richardson.[2]
He was recently placed at No. 3 in Shane Warne's list of the fifty greatest
cricketers of his time,[3] while
Ian Botham in his book
Botham's Century noted that, although "a cricketer who
thrived on aggression and menace", Ambrose was "the most reluctant
and detached of heroes", indeed "one of the quietest that I ever
encountered". As a bowler, he was always "miserly accurate" but
occasionally, when fired up, "as unforgiving and as devastating as
a hurricane", and "virtually unplayable":
But maybe of all these weapons, the most potent was his
silence.
Many fast bowlers have tried to put batsmen off their strokes by
utilising various forms of verbal and physical intimidation.
Curtley intimidated you with hush.[4]
References
- Botham, Ian and
Peter Hayter. Botham's Century: My 100 Great Cricketing
Characters. CollinsWillow, 2001.
Notes
External
links
| Bowlers who have taken 400 Test
wickets |
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