Curtly Ambrose, 6 for 24, skittles England out for 46

March 29, 1994. England did enjoy the better of the exchanges for three and a half days of the Port-of-Spain Test against West Indies. However, requiring 194 for win, they collapsed in a spectacular fashion. Arunabha Sengupta recalls the day when Curtly Ambrose cut through the line-up with his red-hot pace.

Port-of-Spain seemed the best chance for England to claw their way back into the series. They had last played here in 1990 and had looked set to go up 2-0 in the series. Splashes of rain, some blatant time-wasting tactics by stand-in captain Desmond Haynes and the Ezra Moseley bouncer that had broken Graham Gooch’s hand had somehow combined to squeeze out a draw. The West Indians had come back to win the series 2-1.

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The traumatic days of blackwash of the eighties were fairly distant, but the ugly scars still tormented the older members of the England team. And there were ominous signs that the past was catching up again.

In the previous Test, Richie Richardson had graciously gifted England the first use of the most placid turf of Guyana. Captain Michael Atherton had gratefully piled up 144. But, then things had fallen apart. Brian Lara and Jimmy Adams had plundered hundreds and a second innings collapse had put the hosts 2-0 up.

The not-too-pacy wicket of Port-of-Spain was the do or die Test.The West Indian side was still powered by the frightening formula of four quick bowlers, but the batting lacked experience. After Desmond Haynes and Richie Richardson at the top, there were four young left-handers in the middle order. And when Angus Fraser and Chris Lewis combined to restrict them to 252 on a mottled first day wicket, manager Keith Fletcher looked delighted.

On the second and third days, England battled hard to consolidate. Atherton and Graeme Hick got out when well set, but Graham Thorpe played around the tail, keeping Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose, Winston Benjamin and Kenneth Benjamin at bay. Ambrose kept pegging England back with regular wickets and got Thorpe caught in the slips, but some exemplary application by leg-spinner Ian Salisbury took England to 328. The lead was a healthy 76, less than what England had bargained for but substantial enough.

And it took on match winning proportions when Andy Caddick and Chris Lewis had the West Indians struggling on the third afternoon. Richardson played an airy mishit back to Caddick, Salisbury dived at mid-off to bring off a spectacular catch to dismiss Lara and Haynes missed a delivery from Lewis. Keith Arthurton and Jimmy Adams took the hosts shakily past the deficit, but the former was out to a casual pull shot to make it 131 for 4.

Hick, Hick and no Hurray

Shivnarine Chanderpaul, in his second Test, edged early in the innings and Graeme Hick — an excellent slip catcher otherwise — dropped a sitter in the slips.

At the other end, Adams drove a high full toss from Salisbury. The ball hit the forearm of Robin Smith at short-leg and Jack Russel snapped up the rebound behind the wicket. The third day ended with West Indies on 143 for 5. England were on top.

The next morning Caddick got Junior Murray to edge in the first hour, but Chanderpaul was dropped yet again. Once again Hick was the culprit.

The diminutive batsman with the peculiar technique shepherded the tail and went on to make a crucial 50. Winston Benjamin landed some lusty blows. In the end, England needed to make 194. It was about 70 more than what the visitors had expected at the start of the day, but Atherton felt quite confident while putting the pads on.

In the press-box, Peter Roebuck turned to BC Pires of Trinidad Guardian and said: “This ought to be England’s game.” All Englishmen were confident — press, public and players.

The Ambrose Assault

A hush had descended on Queen’s Park Oval as Ambrose marked out his long run up. Atherton took strike. The giant of a man tore in and hurled it down. It was full — just not enough to plant a foot forward. And then the ball skidded, at a speed almost impossible to follow with naked eye.  Atherton’s tentative defensive prod failed to make contact and the thud against the front pad echoed around the stands. Thousands of voices roared in appeal. Even before the finger went up, the crowd knew that it was out. Later, the England captain recounted that he would have fallen nine out of ten times to such a delivery.

Pires, who had agreed to Roebuck’s prediction, now turned to the former Somerset captain and said that he would go out of the press-box. He wanted to join his voice with the crowd and yell at the fall of wickets. Something sombre in the air around the stratospheric regions pervaded by Ambrose’s cold determined eyes told the newspaperman that something special was on the cards.

And off the fifth ball of the over, disaster struck. Mark Ramprakash turned the ball to fine-leg and ran hard. With Courtney Walsh on the fence, it was better not to chance the arm. There were shouts of deliberation, debate and disagreement about the second run, and both batsmen ended up at the same end. Ramprakash walked back for 1.

On the third afternoon of the first Test match at Kingston, Walsh had bowled a marathon spell of 14 overs. During that session, the English ploy of playing the slightly fuller deliveries of the fast men off the front foot had been riddled with psychological holes. Now, Ambrose ran in with pace like raging fire and tore through the doubts that had already plagued the minds.

Robin Smith was caught hesitant, on the crease, and was bowled. Graeme Hick helplessly edged to Murray. Alec Stewart, the only man who got a start, lost his off-stump.

A run later, Walsh, who had pinged away at the batsmen without hitting reward, had Salisbury snicking to Lara at slip.

Russell managed to squeeze in the fourth and last boundary of the innings before Ambrose took him out, caught in the infield. And off the fifth ball of his eighth over, the fast man from Antigua uprooted Graham Thorpe’s stumps. The rather painful day for England came to an end. The score was 40 for 8 off 13.5 overs. Ambrose had taken 6 for 22.

The Englishmen had not quite realised what had hit them. Blown away by some supreme fast bowling.

What followed?

The final morning lasted all of 17 minutes, and 32 balls. Ambrose did not add to his tally though, with Walsh finishing things off with the remaining wickets.

The total of 46 managed to supplant the lowest-ever scored by England in Test cricket — by just 1 run. At Sydney in January 1887, Charlie Turner and John Ferris had skittled them out for 45 on the first morning.

Stewart had top-scored with 18. The second-highest was notched by the 6 leg-byes and one no-ball against the extras.

Ambrose was carried from the ground on joyous Caribbean shoulders. The immortal Calypsonian, Lord Kitchener had penned the immortal song about the deeds of the West Indian team at Lord’s in 1950. Now, at 72, he now stood outside the dressing-room and crooned about the exploits of Ambrose.

Brief Scores:

West Indies 252 (Richie Richardson 63, Brian Lara 43; Angus Fraser 4 for 49, Chris Lewis 4 for 51) and 269 (Keith Arthurton 42, Jimmy Adams 43, Shivnarine Chanderpaul 50; Andy Caddick 6 for 65) beat England 328 (Mike Atherton 48, Graeme Hick 40, Graham Thorpe 86; Curtly Ambrose 5 for 70) and 46 (Curtly Ambrose 6 for 24) by 147 runs.

(Arunabha Sengupta is a cricket historian and Chief Cricket Writer at CricketCountry. He writes about the history and the romance of the game, punctuated often by opinions about modern day cricket, while his post-graduate degree in statistics peeps through in occasional analytical pieces. The author of three novels, he can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/senantix)