Curtly Ambrose is one of the best fast bowlers to ever play for West Indies in their history. Curtly Ambrose was a part of the greatest era of West Indies fast bowling along with Malcolm Marshall, Courtney Walsh and Michael Holding. He has played 98 Test Matches and he has taken 405 Test Wickets at an average of 20.99. He has taken 22 Five Wicket Hauls and 3 times he has taken 10 wickets in a Test Match. He has also played 176 ODIs and he has got 225 Wickets at an average of 24.13. He has taken 4 Five Wicket Hauls in ODI Cricket. In total he has taken 630 Wickets in international cricket.
Let’s look at his Top 5 Best Bowling Performances
1) 8/45 vs England (1990)
This was early on in his career in Test Cricket. This was a test match against England at the Oval in 1990. It was the 4th innings and Curtly Ambrose was at his very best. He bowled 22.4 overs in this innings and he took 8 wickets for 45 runs. Taking 8 wickets in a Test innings is a special achievement. He took the wickets of Alex Stewart, Jack Russell, Nasser Hussain. Curtly Ambrose proved that he is one of the best bowlers of the world. He also took 2 wickets in the first innings therefore he took 10 wickets in the test match. West Indies won this match by 164 runs.
2) 7/25 vs Australia (1993)
This was one of the best bowling performances in the career of Curtly Ambrose. This was again an away test match as it was against Australia at Perth. This was in the first innings. He bowled 18 overs in this innings and he only gave away 25 runs at 1.39 runs per over. He took 7 wickets in this innings and they included David Boon, Mark Waugh, Damien Martyn, Allan Border. This was against a very good Australian team. In the second innings of this test match, he took 2 wickets for 54 runs. West Indies won this match by an innings and 25 runs.
3) 5/60 and 6/24 vs England (1994)
This was one of the best cumulative bowling performances of Curtly Ambrose in test cricket. He took 5 wickets in both innings of the test match. In the first batting innings for England, he bowled 29 overs in the innings and he gave away 60 runs and took 5 wickets. He gave away 2.07 runs per over. He took the wickets of Robin Smith, Graham Thorpe. Then in the fourth Innings, he was at his best as he took 6 wickets for 24 runs in 10 overs. He gave away 2.4 runs per over. He got the wickets of Michael Atherton, Graeme Hick among others. He took 11 wickets in this match and West Indies won this match by 147 runs.
4) 5/17 vs Australia (1988)
This was very early on in his ODI Career. He was bowling against Australia. He took 5 wickets for just 17 runs in 8.2 overs at 2.04 runs per over. West Indies made 236 while batting first. Curtly Ambrose won the match for West Indies by 34 runs. He got the wickets of Geoff Marsh, Mark Waugh and others. He was at his lethal best and the best performances for him came outside the West Indies as this was at the iconic MCG in Melbourne.
5) 5/53 vs Pakistan (1991)
This was one of the most thrilling Matches at the time. Pakistan won by just 1 run but the contribution by Curtly Ambrose in this match cannot be dismissed. He bowled an amazing spell of fast bowling. He took 5 wickets for 53 runs in 10 overs. He took the wickets of Ramiz Raja, Javed Miandad, Imran Khan among others. Curtly Ambrose did this Against the best team in the world. Pakistan could make 236 runs.
