Ambrose scare

Leeds-Already denied the services of one fast bowler through injury, the West Indies had another, even more profound shock on the eve of the fourth Test yesterday.

Curtly Ambrose aborted a spell in the nets to seek team physiotherapist Ronald Rogers' attention to his back.

Manager Ricky Skerritt said afterwards that Ambrose had felt 'a little stiffness' and took the sensible course of action.

It was something that had bothered the illustrious Antiguan from time to time and, at the age of 37, was not surprising.

'We'll see how he is in the morning but we expect he'll be as ready as usual to join Courtney (Walsh) to head the attack,' Skerritt added.

The team can cope with the loss of Franklyn Rose, whose sprained right ankle prevented him from practising again yesterday, but it would be impossible to compensate for Ambrose's absence.

Nixon McLean for Rose, which was the only change made last night to the XI from the Old Trafford Test, hardly diminishes the bowling and, given Rose's performances in the first three Tests, arguably strengthens it.

Corey Collymore (one Test, one wicket) for Ambrose (398 wickets, 96 Tests) is quite something else.

The West Indies have only three weeks before they have to accept the reality of life without Ambrose but, with the contest level 1-1 with two to play, there is still unfinished business to be taken care of before he goes into retirement at the end of the series.

He is within two wickets of joining Walsh, Kapil Dev of India, Sir Richard Hadlee of New Zealand and Wasim Akram of Pakistan as bowlers good enough and fit enough to have reached 400.

And he enjoys bowling at no one more than Englishmen. By far the highest percentage of his victims are English - 157 in 32 Tests at an average of 18.89.

Although bad luck, as much as anything, has kept him down to ten in the previous three Tests this time he is still the one the opposition fears most.

Ambrose is the one the West Indies can least afford to lose, for all Walsh's outstanding returns this year.

He has missed only ten Tests in his 12 years in West Indies colours, all through either injury or fatigue, and, without him, the West Indies have lost eight and won only one, over India at Chandigarh in 1994.

For Ambrose to reach his 400 landmark, Adams said, 'would mean a lot to us as a team'.

'It would also mean a lot to West Indies cricket to have two bowlers who have in excess of 400 wickets,' he added.

'That's a really good advert for our cricket over the last 20 years.'

Fast bowlers usually find Headingley provides them with the most favourable conditions in England.

The pitch offers movement off the seam and, once there is cloud about, the ball swings in the air.

Ambrose and Walsh should be quite a handful but, as Ambrose has noted, they need better support than they have been getting.

This is another, perhaps last, chance for McLean, after ten Tests spread over two years, to make the place that Ambrose vacates next month his own.

Predictably, England have followed the West Indies pattern by choosing an all-pace attack, but neither captain could be sure yesterday what to expect after a close inspection of the pitch.

Nasser Hussain described it as 'a bit ugly'. Adams said it lacked the moisture that had been there in the 1995 Test and in the match against Yorkshire last month.

'It looks a bit dry. It looks a bit of an ugly wicket,' Hussain said.

'I don't mean that in a harsh way. It might play better than it looks but it just looks a rough-looking wicket.'

Hussain's wretched form this season has become the subject of intense comment in the Press.

He has cobbled together a mere 126 runs in his last ten Test innings, with a best of 25, and he hasn't managed any better in the county championship for Essex, averaging 8.20.

But Hussain flatly rejected suggestions yesterday that he drop himself down the order from No. 3.

'Obviously, my form is not brilliant but my record speaks for itself,' he said after practice.

'When England were looking for a No. 3, I came in and did the job, getting seven hundreds batting there in about 40 Tests, and I intend to carry on doing it.

'I don't feel technically too bad,' he added. 'I'm just not getting any runs and that happens.

'In South Africa last winter I averaged 62. People go through lean trots and I'm going through one now.

'You've just got to show a bit of fight and go out there and show a bit of character.'

For a change, no one in the West Indies team has that problem.

They have been heartened by their spirited batting in the second innings at Old Trafford, most of all by Brian Lara's significant hundred.

England (from) Nasser Hussain (captain), Michael Atherton, Marcus Trescothick, Graham Thorpe, Alec Stewart, Michael Vaughan, Graeme Hick, Craig White, Dominic Cork, Andy Caddick, Darren Gough, Matthew Hoggard.

West Indies (from) Jimmy Adams (captain), Sherwin Campbell, Adrian Griffith, Wavell Hinds, Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Ridley Jacobs, Curtly Ambrose, Nixon McLean, Reon King, and Courtney Walsh.

Umpires: Doug Cowie (New Zealand), George Sharp (England).

Match Referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka).

Weather Forecast: Bright and sunny in the morning with cloud building up in the afternoon and 60 per cent chance of showers. High temperature: 21 degrees Celsius.