Mohammad Shoaib Ahmed : Ambrose makes mark in 1-day cricket (16 June 1997)

16 June 1997

Ambrose makes a mark in 1-day cricket

By Mohammad Shoaib Ahmed

West Indies' star fast bowler Curtly Ambrose, completed 300 wickets in limited-overs cricket against world champion Sri Lanka on June 6, 1997 at Port-of-Spain. He becomes the fifth bowler in one-day cricket to achieve the landmark.

Ambrose made his debut in one-day International cricket on March 12, 1988, against Pakistan in Kingston. He took four wickets for 39 in four overs. Since then, he has established himself as the most productive bowler in one-day international and for the last seven years, in tandem with skipper Courtney Walsh, he has done a great job.

Of the 36 bowlers who have taken 100 wickets or more in one-day International, there are ten West Indians, eight Pakistanis, five Australians, four each New Zealander and Indians, two Englishmen, one each for South Africa and Sri Lanka.

Thirteen of these bowlers have also scored 1,000 or more runs as batsmen, thus accomplishing the all-rounder's double also. They are Ian Botham, Richard Hadlee, Imran Khan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kapil Dev, Mudassar Nazar, Simon O'Donnell, Viv Richards, Steve Waugh, Wasim Akram, Carl Hooper and Manoj Prabhakar.

Promising off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq reached his 100-wicket target in the least number of matches (59) when he dismissed Roshan Mahanama in the Independence Cup match against Sri Lanka in India in May, 1997. He erased the previous record held by fellow countryman Waqar Younis who had done so in just 59 games.

The best strike rate among these 36 bowlers has also been achieved by Pakistan's Saqlain Mushtaq. He bowled only 27.14 deliveries to get each one of his 109 wickets. The other top ten in the following order were: Waqar Younis 29.07; Allan Donald 32.04; Chris Pringle 32.17; Shane Warne 33.02; Dennis Lillee 34.88; Wasim Akram 35.89; Joel Garner 36.50; Craig McDermott 36.74; Curtly Ambrose 39.11. Saqlain also has the best strike-rate as far as the number of wickets taken per match is concerned. He has played only 56 One-day Internationals to claim his 149 wickets, giving him an average 1.94 wickets per match.

100 OR MORE WICKETS IN ONE-DAY INTERNATIONAL CRICKET: Wasim Akram (Pak) 232 matches,333 wickets, Waqar Younis (Pak) 156 matches, 265 wickets, Kapil Dev (Ind) 225 matches, 253 wickets, Craig McDermott (Aus) 138 matches, 203 wickets, Curtly Ambrose (WI) 146 matches, 200 wickets, Courtney Walsh (WI) 176 matches, 196 wickets, Imran Khan (Pak) 175 matches, 182 wickets, Steve Waugh (Aus) 220 matches, 171 wickets, Anil Kumble (Ind) 120 matches, 167 wickets, Richard Hadlee (NZ) 115 matches, 158 wickets, Javagal Srinath (Ind) 123 matches, 158 wickets, Malcolm Marshall(WI) 136 matches, 157 wickets, Manoj Prabhakar (Ind) 130 matches, 157 wickets, Aaqib Javed (Pak) 139 matches, 157 wickets, Allan Donald (SA) 87 matches, 147 wickets, Joel Garner (WI) 98 matches, 146 wickets, Ian Botham (Eng) 116 matches, 145 wickets, Michael Holding (WI) 102 matches, 142 wickets, Mushtaq Ahmed (Pak) 124 matches, 141 wickets, Ewan Chatfield (NZ) 114 matches, 140 wickets, Carl Hooper (WI) 155 matches, 134 wickets, Abdul Qadir (Pak) 104 matches, 132 wickets, Ravi Shastri (Ind) 150 matches, 129 wickets, Shane Warne (Aus) 76 matches, 129 wickets, Danny Morrison (NZ) 96 matches, 126 wickets, Viv Richards (WI), 187 matches, 118 wickets,Ian Bishop (WI) 77 matches, 117 wickets,Phillip DeFreitas (Eng) 103 matches, 115 wickets, Mudassar Nazar (Pak) 122 matches, 111 wickets, Saqlain Mushtaq (Pak) 56 matches, 109 wickets, Simon O'Donnel (Aus) 87 matches, 108 wickets, Sanath Jayasuriya (SL) 133 matches, 111 wickets, Dennis Lille (Aus) 63 matches, 103 wickets, Chris Pringle (NZ) 64 matches, 103 wickets, Winston Benjamin (WI) 85 matches, 100 wickets, Roger Harper (WI) 105 matches, 100 wickets.

Source:: Dawn (https://dawn.com/)