Curtly Ambrose

Although the West Indies was the dominant superpower of cricket throughout the 1980s, a tall Antiguan aspired to play in NBA in the United States. But his mother motivated him towards cricket and most importantly, towards fast bowling. What was NBA's loss became cricket's greatest boon and Curtly Ambrose stepped on the field, displaying his near prodigious talent right from his first delivery at international level. Initially seen as a natural successor to the outgoing great Joel "Big Bird" Garner, Ambrose forged a legacy of his own, with match winning performances one after the other as witnessed at Perth in 1992-93 where his spell read 7 wickets for just 1 run in a mere 5 overs, his fifer at Bridgetown which denied a strong, recently reinstated South Africa a victory and of course his figures of 6-24 against England at Port-of-Spain which demolished the tourists for just 46 in the fourth innings. His new ball partnership with his best friend and fellow pace icon Courtney Walsh ensured the West Indies remained a potent adversary despite the team's downward spiral post the loss of 1994-95 Sir Frank Worrell Trophy at home, however Ambrose from thereon was plagued by injuries having borne the brunt of bowling workload with Walsh with negligible support to the duo from the others in the line-up. Having burned himself out at the end of the century, Ambrose bowed out of the scene with 405 wickets to his name at an astounding average of barely 21, the best for any bowler, whether pace or spin, with 400 scalps or above.

Notoriously reclusive during his career with the renowned motto "Curtly talks to no man", Ambrose has been fairly more approachable lately, with his smile being as joyful for interviewers as terrorizing him taking his bowling positions was, particularly for the best batsmen in the world.