Fast-bowling slowing down

London: When Curtly Ambrose takes his leave of international cricket after the final Test at the Oval early next month, the towering Antiguan will carry into his retirement one particular disappointment.

It is that he, and his perennial partner, Courtney Walsh, both now in their late 30s, have been unable to pass the torch on to any of the several younger fast bowlers to whom they have set the example and passed on their knowledge.

Ambrose vented his frustration in a television interview during the third Test, reflecting a concern for West Indians to whom fast bowling has always been a statement of our cricketing virility and success.

'It's time for the youngsters to come through, but they're not ready,'Ambrose, 37, and two wickets away from 400 going into tomorrow's fourth Test at Headingly, observed.

'Courtney and I are still expected to do most of the work. That's unfair because the youngsters should be doing the bulk of it, but that's just not happening.'

Ambrose's beef has been most noticeable in the current series.

Between them, he and Walsh have bowled 98.4 more overs than Franklyn Rose and Reon King, conceded 21 runs less and taken 22 wickets more.

It is obvious that England's batting strategy is to see off the two old hands and then set about their lesser accomplices.

Michael Holding, part of the most menacing quartet of fast bowlers ever assembled in the heyday of West Indies domination in the '70s and '80s, believes that the situation is prompting Ambrose to quit, even when he remains a high-class performer.

'I think Ambrose would like to go to Australia this winter if only he had more support from the younger bowlers,' Holding wrote in his newspaper column last week.

'He wants to open the bowling, take a couple of wickets and then come back to knock over Nos. 6 and 7. Instead, he is having to bowl his second spells at Nos. 3 and 4.'

It is not a new phenomenon. Since the great Malcolm Marshall scattered wickets for the last time in the 1991 series in England and Walsh stepped up from first change to join Ambrose with the new ball, the West Indies have used 13 fast bowlers to provide support.

Only Ian Bishop and Kenny Benjamin have been chosen for more than 25 Tests in that time, and their appearances were disrupted by injury and, in Benjamin's case, compounded by disciplinary suspension.

Bishop had all the requisites for fast bowling. He was tall, strong and fast and possessed the classic action that produced late outswing.

It also produced strain that caused two separate stress fractures of the vertebrae, resulting in a premature retirement and an early passage into the television commentary box.

Few bowlers of his time matched his record of 161 wickets at 24.29 apiece and, still only 32, his has been a profound loss.

So why have the West Indies been unable to maintain this production line, given its great tradition of fast bowling, the presence of famous fast bowlers around every street corner, and the use of two of the most famous, Marshall and Andy Roberts, as recent coaches to the Test team?

Holding puts it down to nothing more than an inevitable 'lean patch', noting the West Indies have gone down this rough road in the past. Yet there is more to it than that.

In their time in charge, both Marshall and Roberts complained that the emerging fast bowlers were disregarding their advice, an arrogant response from those supposedly eager to learn.

Marshall reportedly told his friend and former West Indies team-mate, Desmond Haynes, from his deathbed that his one wish was that young players would listen.

It appeared also to be Ambrose's point.

The quality of pitches for the domestic tournaments in recent years has also been a factor in affecting the development of fast bowlers. They have been slow and assisted spinners who have invariably been the leading wicket-takers but who have found no place in the Test team.

Of the more recent crop of emerging fast bowlers, Rose, King and Merv Dillon have all made immediate impressions, only to fall away.

Rose, a natural outswinger, had six wickets in an innings on debut, against India in Kingston in 1987 (including Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammed Azharuddin, Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly) and outbowled both Ambrose and Walsh in the series.

The following year in Durban, he took seven South African wickets in an innings.

Then came a shoulder injury and a run-in with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) that put him out of the game for almost a year.

He returned in New Zealand last December, was Man-Of-The-Series against Zimbabwe in the Caribbean in March, missed a couple of home Tests against Pakistan with a finger injury and has struggled to regain form since.

Dillon, spotted by Marshall during a stint with the Hampshire Second XI back in 1996, was in the Test team against India the following season after only four first-class matches for Trinidad and Tobago. He looked the business but, unable to maintain consistency, lost his place and has been relegated to One-Day specialist.

King capitalised on Ambrose's absence from the two Tests and five oneday internationals in New Zealand last December and January to announce himself as the fastest and most impressive of the bowlers, Walsh not excluded.

He confirmed his status against Zimbabwe and Pakistan and has now played all of the West Indies' last nine Tests.

Suddenly, his rhythm has deserted him and, with it, his confidence. In seven previous Tests, he had not overstepped for a no-ball. He has seven in three here, has repeatedly aborted his run-in and has seldom been at top speed.

For Holding and others concerned for the fast bowling future in West Indies cricket, there was some encouragement from the recent Costcutter Cup, the World Cup for the Under-15s, won by the West Indies in last Thursday's final at Lord's.

It was prompted by the pacy Ravi Rampaul's overall performance and especially his reaction on being thumped to the cover boundary in the final against Pakistan.

True to the West Indian tradition, he pounded in a bouncer that laid the unsuspecting batsman on his backside.

That was more like itbut Rampaul is only 15 and, somehow, young West Indian fast bowlers of late seem only to flatter to deceive.