Curtly Ambrose

Curtly Ambrose

Personal information
Full name	Curtly Elconn Lynwall Ambrose
Nickname	Little Bird
Height	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Batting	Left-handed batsman (LHB)
Bowling	Right-arm fast (RF)
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 3683.5 1558.5 8133 2857.1 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: [1], September 1 2007

Curtly Elconn Lynwall Ambrose (born September 21, 1963), nicknamed the 'Little Bird' following on from Joel Garner who was nicknamed "Big Bird" owing to his height, was a famous West Indian cricketer.

Born in Swetes Village, Antigua he played for the Leeward Islands, Chester Boughton Hall Cricket Club, Northamptonshire County Cricket Club (1989-96), and the West Indian cricket team. His skill was as a right-arm fast bowler, especially in partnership with Courtney Walsh. His huge 6' 8" (2.03 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, he could extract steepling bounce from any pitch - a threat to even the finest of batsmen. With Courtney Walsh, he formed one of the greatest opening bowling partnerships, as evidenced by the 421 wickets they shared in the 49 Test matches they played together.

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 1001 maiden overs (roughly two in every seven), and took 405 wickets (the fifth bowler to exceed the 400 wicket barrier) at a bowling average of 20.99. This superb average is marginally bettered only by fellow West Indians Malcolm Marshall (20.94) and 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 8 for 45 against England at Barbados in 1990 (in 34 Tests against England he took 164 wickets, dismissing Mike Atherton 17 times); he took five wickets or better on 22 occasions, including 7 wickets for 1 run against Australia at the WACA in 1993. He bowled 15-ball over at the WACA ground in Perth containing 9 no-balls which took 12 minutes to bowl, possibly the longest over in Test cricket. In 176 One Day Internationals, he 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 didn't say much, refusing countless interview requests with the motto "Curtly don't talk to no man." [2].

Having retired from cricket, Ambrose plays guitar in a reggae band called Big Bad Dread and the Baldhead alongside former team-mate Richie Richardson [3].

He was placed at No.3 in Shane Warne's list of 50 Greatest Cricketers [4].

External links

• Curtly Ambrose at ESPNcricinfo