Till now you know him as the tall pacer who loved taking wickets for the West Indies -- be it in whites or coloured clothing. With Time To Talk, Sir Curtly Ambrose shows his other side and opens up about his grievances with the authorities, his countless arguments in the dressing room, his decision to retire 2 Tests before his 100thTest and what he felt during his 12-year career with the West Indian cricket team.
The book has not one but two forewords -- one by the recently departed Richie Benaud and the other by Steve Waugh, Ambrose’s adversary on the field against whom he once lost cool on the pitch. They both praise the West Indian great who tells the readers that he never loved the game when he was young, was more interested in basketball due to his height and became serious about the game only when he became successful.
Curtly terms pride as the most important thing in his life -- it was his pride that kept him going despite the leaked news item about his retirement; it was his pride that helped him bowl superfast at Dean Jones after the Australian asked the umpire to instruct Ambrose to remove his wristbands.
He also rejects the ‘Curtly talks to no man’ idea, saying that he was more of a hotel junkie than someone who would go out with his mates -- whether at home or abroad.
Those who have seen Ambrose bowl must be accustomed to his stare which demoralised many batsmen -- he hardly engaged in conversation, so naturally the book where he opens up had to have a title like ‘Time To Talk’.
In this autobiography, ‘Ambi’ talks about everything Cricket -- he blasts his country bosses for treating him shabbily throughout his career; he blames WICB for the decline in the team’s standards and doesn’t shy away from criticising Brian Lara and Carl Hooper who could have played an important role in developing future cricketers. However, he is all praise for Sir Viv Richards and Richie Richardson whom he considered aggressive captains (he believes the latter was underrated) and who also believed in his capabilities.
You’ll get to know more about the West Indian great through this book than through watching his many matches. If you didn’t know that Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson and John Wayne were among his favourite actors; that his dad had almost nothing to do with his upbringing as he was mostly abroad; that he only played because everyone else did, then worry not. This book will give you an insight into the brain of the mighty West Indian who regrets playing Test cricket in India.
Then there is the mention of many contemporaries, mostly in good words. Ambrose wrote about Javed Miandad as the batsman they couldn’t control; Wasim Akram as one of the most talented adversaries who could make batsmen look stupid and the mighty Sachin Tendulkar as someone who remained humble despite owning all cricketing records. He minces no words when he talks about the incident involving Dermot Reeve (Ambrose bowled three beamers at him in a county match), about the infamous 15-ball over against Australia and his six terrible seasons with Northamptonshire, who killed his desire to continue county cricket by being the worst employers.
Ambrose talks at length about his friendship with Courtney Walsh, the heartache of not winning the World Cup in three attempts and the abandoned Test match against England that shouldn’t have been abandoned in the first place. He has no regrets about his not playing 100 Test matches but, yes, he does regret not leaving a successor because the bowlers he wanted to take his place never took the game seriously.
In non-Ambrose style he tells the readers that he expected good things from Stanford T20, was disappointed in the way his later years manager Clive Lloyd and coach Malcolm Marshall (late) handled the crisis ahead of the disastrous series against South Africa and that he didn’t understand why commentators Michael Holding and Tony Cozier didn’t support him when they should have.
He also explains why he didn’t like Andrew Caddick and nearly cost West Indies a Test match because of his hatred.
Ambrose’s cricket career may have ended a decade and a half back but with 176 ODI matches and 98 Test appearances to his credit, he remains one of the most popular sportsmen from the Caribbean. Testimonials of contemporary cricketers as well as his friends along with some amazing photographs make this book livelier for the readers. His comments on his adversaries; his best bowling performances and his later years passion for music (one separate chapter for that!) concludes this amazing autobiography (with Richard Sydenham) where he bowls bouncers, yorkers and all kinds of match-winning deliveries.