T Chesterfield: Ambrose's Final 15-Ball Over A Sad Farewell To Down Under (7 Feb 1997)

7 February 1997

Ambrose`s final 15-ball over a sad farewell Down Under.

Trevor Chesterfield - Spinners Tales

It was hard not to feel a touch of sympathy for Curtly Ambrose on Monday morning in his last game in the land of Oz.... a day of mixed emotions tinged with sadness. Some of it was spoiled, however, by the antics of the Windies vicecaptain Brian Lara who has lost the respect of most test players because of his "attitude problem" over the past 18 months. His touches of unnecessary hyperbole were not lost on the umpires in Perth.

But lets forget about the idiosyncrasy of the Trinidadian and concentrate, for now, on the final rites of the 33-year old Ambrose`s test career Down Under. By the time the Windies return to kangarooville, the media-shy fast bowler will be 38 and long retired. Those who remember his final morning demolition of a largely wet-behind-the-ears South African side in the one-off test in Bridgetown, Barbados in April 1992 may not feel the same sort of sympathy.

Certainly not as jovial as the "fond farewell" of the Aussie skipper, Mark Taylor, offered in Perth after he had led his side to a 10-wicket drubbing. His batting average took a battering this summer from Ambrose`s cut and thrust out in the middle. So we may ask, was not Taylor`s farewell bet more of a "finally..... he`s gone..." comment and a feeling of relief than one of genuine admiration of a complex player whose rare flirtations with the print media were brief and crusty rather than amiable. "I let de ball t`do all de talkin`, mon," he once explained as the reason for his reticence at a Man of the Match ceremony.

When he bowled that final over of 15 balls on Monday, nine of which were no balls, it was a sad sight then, when umpire Darrel Hair finally called "over" and handed over Ambrose`s headgear. It was almost a embarrassing as the way he was run out when, after the ball looped off the pad of Ian Healy, the Aussie wicketkeeper, Ambrose`s attempts to scramble back to the safety of the popping crease were thwarted by the cracks in the pitch. They were deep enough for the toe of the bat to stick in one and not even a good shove with one of his long sinuous arms rescued the lanky fast bowler`s desperate effort for his final dismissal to be logged in the book as run out (bat stuck in pitch).

How sadly ironic for the bowler who has regained his place at the top of the test bowlers` rankings and has a career average of 21.4. Whispers have it that he will retire at the end of India`s tout to the Caribbean on May 3. Having been given the fancy nickname in Sri Lanka 18 months ago of "Lbw b Ambrose" by several members of the cheerful South African under-24 side, the writer of this column does have some sympathy with the retiring fast bowler. Taylor has since offered a few critical words about the Lara incident with Matthew Hayden.

But he has not promised to go soft on the South African youngsters the Aussies should face in the test series. But Jacques Kallis, Shaun Pollock and Lance Klusener know a couple of tricks of their own to shut up the lads from Oz. After all, the Sri Lanka trip wasn`t exactly for the soft hearted.