A man, who was synonymous with speed and the fearsome glare, has mellowed down to strumming a guitar in Antigua, but Curtly Ambrose continues to ask searching questions off the field.
After being inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame on Monday night, Ambrose was asked about whether West Indies would ever recapture its halcyon days. A sombre Ambrose replied: “It hurts to say this but it's going to take a lot more years for West Indies cricket to get anywhere near where we once were.
“The cricket board in the West Indies made some mistakes. When we were the best team, nothing was put in place to nurture talent. The belief was that we could forever produce great cricketers, meanwhile the rest of the world has gone ahead of us.”
The former West Indies spearhead, with 405 Test wickets and 225 scalps in ODIs, said he was perplexed by the lack of fiery fast bowlers in the Caribbean.
“West Indies produced great fast bowlers and all of us were over six feet. Today we have got very short bowlers, why I don't know why. As for me, I am an aggressive person and that filtered into my cricket. I played hard but most importantly played fair,” he said.
Ambrose's clash with Steve Waugh at Trinidad in 1995 when it looked as though a United Nations peace-keeping force would be required to calm the fires, also figured in the discussion.
“We were down 0-1 in the series. There was tension and we were on the brink of losing our number one tag. Waugh said something that I didn't like. I thought he should have showed me respect. My impression was ‘let it go' but then I decided to retaliate. In the heat of the moment I really wanted to physically beat him up. But the fine thing is it ended there (on the pitch) and nothing else was said. I have high respect for him and I believe he has respect for me,” Ambrose said.
Today's Ambrose, however, is a totally different person, who nurtures hopes of playing with his band here at a packed Wembley Stadium! — Special Correspondent
