Sir Curtly Ambrose by Curtly Ambrose

Author:Curtly Ambrose
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MBI

Trouble in the Ranks

‘I chastised Lara about his attitude and about him not giving 100 per cent to the team and I started to swear and when I do that the guys know I have really had enough. I told him that he was a professional and he should behave like a professional’

We were now seeking to rebound from the rarity of a series loss, to Australia, though we were still confident of winning in England. There was just one problem. It turned out to be the most challenging and difficult tour I have ever been on in my entire career, especially in reference to the ridiculously long schedule.

Our first game was 13 May and the last on 3 September 1995 after two games against Yorkshire at Scarborough – this after a six-Test series! Can you imagine how I felt after a long, tough series to be told we then had to go and play some cricket at Scarborough? That itinerary was so bad we even played Somerset in not one but two three-day games at Taunton, where Jimmy Adams got hit quite badly by an Andre van Troost bouncer. Although he was very quick I am sure it happened because of exhaustion. And we had as many as five games between the third and fourth Tests, including fixtures against Ireland, the Minor Counties and Sir J.P. Getty’s XI. It was a long, long, tiring tour for us and we were burned out. The schedule killed us and undoubtedly had an impact on our performances in the Test series. I don’t know how the WICB agreed to that itinerary. I believe the schedule was designed by the English board to burn us out and it worked, but the WICB should never have agreed to it. We were dead beat on this tour after a tough series in the Caribbean against Australia.

The other challenging part of this trip centred on team disunity or, more to the point, Brian Lara’s conduct that was unattractive for a top international cricketer. We had some issues with the great Brian Lara starting back in the Caribbean in the Australia series. Actually, the problems were more between Brian and the captain Richie Richardson. A lot of people thought Brian wanted his job. I wasn’t sure but I sensed that Brian did not support Richie to the fullest. These issues that were hovering about the team became clearer in a meeting after the Jamaica Test against Australia, prior to going to England. Brian said he wasn’t in the mood to go to England and, again, it was my view that this was borne out of his feelings about Richie’s captaincy. So even though Brian did eventually tour there was friction and still some problems going on.

This ongoing problem came to a head when Brian left the tour between the fourth Test in Manchester and the fifth in Nottingham. Richie is a laid-back guy and he can put up with a lot before he snaps but there came a point when he could not take any more with Brian.

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