When England Were Hit By Whirlwind Of Ambrose's rage For Redemption

Garfield Robinson recounts how one of cricket’s greatest bowlers was inspired to lay waste England’s hopes of success in the Caribbean

- Garfield Robinson

In 1994, Curtly Ambrose was at his peak. He’d been there for a while, probably ever since his 8-45 demolition of England in Barbados in April, 1990.

In April, 1992, South Africa, in their first game back from exile, were cruising to what would have been an outstanding victory before Ambrose and Courtney Walsh engineered a stunning collapse early on the last day, bringing the West Indies back from the dead.

And the famous 7-1 spell at Perth came in February, 1993. These were simply some of his most outstanding performances in a career replete with outstanding performances.

England arrived in the Caribbean with understandable hope. The days of the humiliating series whitewashes had long gone and it was plain the Caribbean men were no longer the invincible force they had been a decade or so earlier. The pack was getting closer, the quicker ones even nipping at their heels.

Their two previous encounters were close-run affairs. England lost 1-2 on their 1989-90 visit, and would probably have won but for rain and some timewasting tactics in Trinidad; tactics for which Brian Lara expressed shame during his recent MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey lecture at Lord’s.

The 1991 tour ended 2-2 with England winning at Headingley, on the back of Graham Gooch’s superhuman 154, and at the Oval, when Phillip Tufnell’s off-spin triggered a stunning collapse. The West Indies won convincingly at Trent Bridge and at Egbaston, while the Lord’s Test was being fairly evenly contested until ruined by rain.