Last Updated on 2 hours ago by Charbel Coorey
West Indies legends Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose discuss the best batsmen they bowled during their glorious Test careers.
The pair, who took a combined 927 Test wickets, shared insights into some of the best players they bowled to. Speaking on the Stick To Cricket Podcast, Walsh and Ambrose discussed some fabulous cricketing stories, including memorable battles with opposition players in international cricket.
Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose pinpoint three of the best players they bowled to in Test cricket
Courtney Walsh, the first bowler to take 500 wickets in Test cricket, said Steve Waugh was the toughest competitor he faced. The former Australian captain often didn’t look pretty at the crease, but he was mighty effective.
“I’ll tell you something, right, this might sound strange to you in terms of the best… but the hardest to get out was a guy called Steve Waugh… The fight that he showed,” Walsh said.
“Sachin Tendulkar was spectacular in terms of what he was doing, but Steve Waugh, when he gets in, and the fight he shows… Especially when he came out to bat against us, he looks like he was going to get out any ball now, but he fights it out and survives. And the next thing you know he’s got a hundred. So he was a tough one.”
Steve Waugh had a glittering career, maintaining an average above 50 in a difficult era for batting. He scored 2,192 runs against the West Indies at 49.81 between 1988 and 2003. 1,096 of those runs came in the Caribbean at an astonishing average of 68.50.
Curtly Ambrose is known as one of cricket’s more feared quicks, with his record of 408 wickets at 20.99 speaking for itself. He also chose an Australian: Ricky Ponting. The great fast bowler said Ponting’s willingness to attack made him a difficult customer.
However, Ambrose couldn’t separate Ponting from Sachin Tendulkar, and regards both cricketers as the best he came up against. Overall, Ponting averaged 61.05 in the West Indies between 1999 and 2012. Tendulkar also performed well in the Caribbean, averaging 47.69 between 1997 and 2002.
“I played against a lot of great players, hard to say, but my top two are Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting,” Ambrose said. “Ponting had all the shots, and would take you on. So those two would be top of the tree for me.”
In 49 Tests together, Ambrose and Walsh took a combined 421 wickets to form one of the greatest bowling pairs in Test history.
