It was not the West Indian way: Curtly Ambrose on sledging

LONDON: West Indies fast bowling great Curtly Ambrose was known to let his vicious deliveries and the death stares in the follow through do the talking more than his mouth. Ambrose said that if you are good enough to send the cricket ball down the pitch at 90mph, you don't need to sledge.

Ambrose said that he had a lot of natural aggression while bowling and it was something he was taught to accept by another West Indies fast bowling legend, Andy Roberts. "Andy has a wealth of knowledge, he knows about and understands fast bowling," Ambrose said in the Sky Sports Podcast. "One of the things he mentioned to me was to always be aggressive, to always get under the skin of batsmen. That stuck in my mind coming from a great man like him.

"I don't think you can teach a bowler to be aggressive - it has to be something within you. You can try but if a bowler doesn't have it inside of him, it probably won't work. For me it worked because I am naturally aggressive while I am competing. It naturally flowed for me.

"We never believed in sledging or saying things to the batsmen because we had this philosophy that if you are good enough at what you do, you let the five and a half ounces (the cricket ball) do the talking for you.

"If you keep sledging, you probably aren't any good. That wasn't the West Indian way. Five and half ounces coming at you at 90mph is more than enough!"

Ambrose's silence was broken on one occasion though, when he was bowling to former Australian captain Steve Waugh. "Steve Waugh and I had our battles over the years. He was a tough competitor and I have a lot of respect for him but in that particular game he said something to me that I didn't like," said Ambrose, who took 405 wickets in 98 Test matches.

"Initially I ignored it, as in the heat of the battle you can say things, but after a break something just snapped. I asked him, 'did you say so and so to me?' He didn't say yes, he didn't say no. He just said 'I can say anything I want to say' which to me was a yes. I decided I deserved more respect so I had a few choice words for him.

"I said 'my cricket career could be over right this minute, it doesn't make a difference to me, but your career will be over, too, because I'll knock you out and you won't be able to play any more'. There were a few expletives in between obviously!

"I was upset as I deserved more respect - but it started and ended there. I have seen him a few times since and we have never spoken about it." (IANS)