87 Facts About Curtly Ambrose

Sir Curtly Elconn Lynwall Ambrose KCN was born on 21 September 1963 and is an Antiguan former cricketer who played 98 Test matches for the West Indies.

Curtly Ambrose was chosen as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1992; after he retired he was entered into the International Cricket Council Hall of Fame and selected as one of West Indies all-time XI by a panel of experts.

Curtly Ambrose was almost immediately successful and remained in the team until his retirement in 2000.

Curtly Ambrose is regarded as one of the greatest match-winning bowlers of all time.

From 1995, Curtly Ambrose was increasingly affected by injury, and several times critics claimed that he was no longer effective.

Curtly Ambrose was born in Swetes, Antigua on 21 September 1963, the fourth of seven children.

The family had no background in cricket, but his mother was a fan, and Curtly Ambrose played in his youth, primarily as a batsman.

Curtly Ambrose quickly attracted the attention of coaches and progressed to the St John's cricket team.

Curtly Ambrose was no-balled for throwing in the first match, which Wisden Cricketers' Almanack later attributed to confusion caused by his attribute of flicking his wrist prior to releasing the ball to impart extra pace, and there were no subsequent doubts about the legality of his bowling action.

When Pakistan toured the West Indies in 1988, Curtly Ambrose played in the One Day International series, taking the place of the recently retired Joel Garner.

Curtly Ambrose made his debut during the first match, on 12 March 1988 in Kingston, Jamaica, taking wickets with his third and ninth deliveries; he ended the innings with four for 39 from 10 overs.

West Indies won those first three matches to take the series, and Curtly Ambrose did not play in the fourth or fifth game.

Curtly Ambrose finished the series with seven wickets at an average of over 50 runs per wicket.

Curtly Ambrose took 8 wickets, and was man of the match with four for 29 when West Indies defeated Pakistan in the final.

Curtly Ambrose's height made him difficult to play as he made the ball bounce more than other bowlers.

Curtly Ambrose's performances earned him man of the match award in the first and third games, and he ended the series with 26 wickets at an average of 21.46.

Curtly Ambrose was West Indies' leading wicket-taker and headed the team bowling averages.

Curtly Ambrose took a wicket with his first delivery for the club, but was not particularly successful in the first part of the season; he settled down later and took 28 first-class wickets at 28.39 for Northamptonshire in nine games.

Curtly Ambrose was unfit for the first Test, which West Indies lost, and the first four ODIs, but returned to take four for 18 in an ODI organised to replace the rained-off second Test.

Curtly Ambrose took the new ball and removed the last five batsmen for 18 runs in 46 deliveries, four of them leg before wicket.

Curtly Ambrose finished with figures of eight for 45, ten wickets in the match, and West Indies levelled the series with a 164-run win.

Curtly Ambrose took six wickets in the final match, to finish the series with 20 wickets at 15.35, finishing top of the West Indies' averages.

Curtly Ambrose took 22 first-class wickets for the Leeward Islands, and when he returned to England to play for Northamptonshire in 1990, took 58 first-class wickets to top the club's bowling averages.

Curtly Ambrose took 14 wickets at 17.07, but was overshadowed slightly by the performances of Ian Bishop.

Curtly Ambrose played the first two ODIs, but missed the third after Pakistan had already won the series, and his best figures in the Tests came in the final match when he took five for 35.

Curtly Ambrose made an impression batting as part of a West Indian lower batting order which repeatedly added crucial runs during the series.

Curtly Ambrose took part in two important partnerships to help his team recover from a difficult situation, and in the third match, he scored his only half-century in Tests.

Curtly Ambrose had a particular impact on Graeme Hick, who was appearing in Test cricket for the first time, dismissing him six times in seven innings with short-pitched bowling.

Curtly Ambrose was named man-of the-match in the third Test and adjudged West Indies man-of-the-series.

Curtly Ambrose returned home to play twice for the Leeward Islands in January 1992.

Curtly Ambrose played in all three ODIs, all of which were won by West Indies.

The Test match was the first time West Indies bowled under a new playing regulation which permitted only one bouncer per over; this seemed to affect the home bowlers, but Curtly Ambrose took two for 47 from 36 overs.

Curtly Ambrose took six for 34 in the second innings, and was named joint man of the match; in just over 60 overs, he took eight for 81 in the match.

Curtly Ambrose was more effective in the NatWest Trophy, a one-day competition that Northamptonshire won that season, in which he conceded fewer than two runs per over across five games.

West Indies won by an innings and Curtly Ambrose was named man of the series, having taken 33 wickets to equal the record in an Australia-West Indies Test series.

Curtly Ambrose topped the West Indian bowling averages with an average of 16.42.

Curtly Ambrose followed up with three for 26 in the second match to be named player of the finals.

Curtly Ambrose took nine wickets at 23.11 to be fifth in the team bowling averages.

For Northamptonshire in 1993, Curtly Ambrose was second in the team first-class bowling averages with 59 wickets at 20.45.

Immediately following this, West Indies toured Sri Lanka to play three ODIs and a Test, a rain-ruined match in which Curtly Ambrose took three wickets.

When he returned to the West Indies, Curtly Ambrose took 19 first-class wickets for the Leeward Islands at an average of 11.68, in his first appearances for the islands in two years, but as England arrived to tour West Indies, he complained of fatigue and there were rumours he planned to retire.

Curtly Ambrose played in three times in the five-match ODI series, taking two wickets, and took a further two wickets in the first Test, which West Indies won.

Curtly Ambrose was ineffective at the start of the second Test, but recovered, ending the match with eight wickets; according to Lee, he "struck the critical blows of the match" in the first innings.

Curtly Ambrose took six wickets to leave England 40 for eight at the close of play; the next morning, they were bowled out for 46 and Curtly Ambrose had figures of six for 24 in the innings and match figures of 11 for 84; he was named man of the match.

Curtly Ambrose took one more wicket in the drawn final Test to finish the series with 26 wickets and top the West Indian bowling averages.

Curtly Ambrose returned to play for Northamptonshire in 1994, but arrived later than scheduled.

Curtly Ambrose took nine of these wickets in Trinidad during the third Test, when West Indies levelled the series having lost the first Test.

Bowling on a pitch that was extremely difficult for batting, and which both teams considered to be unsatisfactory, Curtly Ambrose took nine for 65 in the match and was named man of the match.

Curtly Ambrose was more effective in the Test series, and according to Tony Cozier in Wisden, "was always captable of a spell of incisive, quality bowling".

Curtly Ambrose ended the series third in the bowling averages with 21 wickets at 24.09.

Curtly Ambrose took ten wickets in the tournament, and took three wickets in consecutive innings; in the latter game, he was man of the match.

Curtly Ambrose was man of the match with three for 28 in his team's opening match, and took ten wickets at 17.00 in the competition.

Curtly Ambrose conceded an average of just three runs per over for the tournament, the second best among those who played in more than two games.

Curtly Ambrose took eight wickets in the two-Test series at an average of 20.50, leading the team averages, and took five for 68 in the second match.

Curtly Ambrose was replaced by the much younger Mohammad Akram as overseas player.

Curtly Ambrose began the series poorly, continuing a pattern established in several preceding series, and critics suggested that he was no longer effective.

West Indies won, and Curtly Ambrose was named man of the match, but he missed the fourth Test with an injury.

Curtly Ambrose returned for the final match, and on another difficult batting pitch, took five for 43 on the first day.

West Indies won and Curtly Ambrose was again man of the match.

Curtly Ambrose led the West Indies bowling averages with 19 wickets at 23.36, but had been the driving factor in West Indies' two wins.

Curtly Ambrose played in an ODI tournament during the tour of Australia, taking nine wickets at 27.33.

Later in the season, between March and May 1997, India toured West Indies; Curtly Ambrose took ten wickets at 30.10 in the Test series, including five for 87 in the second Test, but was no longer the home team's most effective bowler.

Curtly Ambrose played five ODIs during the West Indies home season, taking nine wickets.

Any danger that Curtly Ambrose might have retired after this series was forestalled when Brian Lara was appointed West Indies captain and immediately spoke to Curtly Ambrose and Walsh to ask them to continue in the team.

Many of the pitches during the tour were poor for batting, but Curtly Ambrose was very effective, particularly in the second, third and fourth Tests.

Curtly Ambrose followed up with six wickets in West Indies victory in the fourth Test, taking four for 38 in the final innings.

The visiting team generally bowled too many bouncers to be effective, but Curtly Ambrose took eight wickets in the game, including six for 51 in the second innings.

Curtly Ambrose was ineffective in the third Test, and despite bowling what Geoffrey Dean in Wisden called a "superb opening spell", could not prevent South Africa building up a large total against an attack lacking two other main bowlers.

Curtly Ambrose pulled out of the attack himself later in the innings with a back injury, and did not bowl in the second innings.

Curtly Ambrose missed the final Test with a hamstring injury.

Curtly Ambrose took 19 wickets at 22.26, second to Walsh in the averages.

Curtly Ambrose consequently missed two ODI series, but in October 1999 he played two ODIs in a series against Bangladesh in Dhaka and three in a tournament in Sharjah.

Curtly Ambrose recovered in time to play for the Leeward Island in domestic cricket, taking 31 wickets at 12.03 in seven first-class games.

Curtly Ambrose took a wicket in the second and final Test, and four wickets in six matches during a three-way ODI series involving Zimbabwe and Pakistan.

Pakistan subsequently played a three-Test series against West Indies; in his last home series, Curtly Ambrose took 11 wickets at 19.90 to head the West Indian bowling averages.

The other bowlers were ineffective, and Curtly Ambrose publicly commented during the series on the lack of support that he and Walsh received.

Curtly Ambrose was second in the averages to Walsh with 17 wickets at 18.64.

Curtly Ambrose took four wickets in the first innings of both the third and fourth Tests, passing 400 wickets in the latter match.

Curtly Ambrose played bass guitar with the reggae band Big Bad Dread and the Baldhead; one fellow band member was his former team-mate Richie Richardson.

Curtly Ambrose was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Nation by the Antiguan Barbudan government on 28 February 2014, alongside Richardson and Andy Roberts.

Curtly Ambrose's accuracy meant that he was effective if the pitch favoured batsmen.

Curtly Ambrose bowled an effective yorker, and unlike other fast bowlers, used short-pitched deliveries sparingly, although he could bowl a hostile bouncer, and concentrated on bowling a full-length aimed at the wickets.

Curtly Ambrose rarely engaged in verbal sparring with batsmen, although in later years he occasionally inspected the pitch in an area close to the batsman before an innings began and rubbed his hands to suggest that he would enjoy bowling there.

Curtly Ambrose always aimed to concede as few runs as possible when bowling, and frequently berated himself when he offered an easy delivery from which to score.

For much of his career, Curtly Ambrose was rated the world's best bowler in the ICC player rankings, first reaching the top in 1991; he rarely dropped below second and was ranked in the top 10 from 1989 until the end of his career.

In 2010, Curtly Ambrose was chosen by a panel of writers and experts as a member of ESPNcricinfo's "All-Time XI" for West Indies.

In January 2022, Curtly Ambrose was appointed as bowling coach of Jamaica Tallawahs for CPL 2022 edition.