Curtly Ambrose is considered as one of the most successful West Indies bowler in the cricket history. Popularly nick named as ‘Little Bird”, Curtly Elconn Lynwall Ambrose was born on September 21, 1963 in Swetes Village in Antigua. This tall man of 6’7 feet was once the sharp point of the pace attack of Carribean side.

Ambrose played for the Leeward Islands, Chester Boughton Hall Cricket Club, Northamptonshire County Cricket Club between the period 1989-96, and the West Indian cricket team. His was as a right-arm fast

bowler, especially in partnership with Courtney Walsh. His huge 6′ 7″ (2.01 m) frame was was enough to evoke fear in the minds of the batsman. Even when his pace fell away due to age, he naver lost the charisma to allure the fans. He never failed in delivering within excellent line and length. Because of his height, he could extract steepling bounce from any pitch - a threat to even the finest of batsmen. Joining with Courtney Walsh, he formed one of the greatest opening bowling partnerships, as evidenced by the 421 wickets they shared in the 49 Test matches they played together.

Ambrose made his debut into Test cricket in April 1988 at Georgetown, Guyana against Pakistan. He wore West indies jersey for 98 Tests. He bowled 1001 maiden overs (roughly two in every seven), and eroded 405 wickets at a bowling average of 20.99. He is the fifth bowler to cross 400 wickts in Test cricket. This superb average is marginally bettered only by fellow West Indians Malcolm Marshall (20.94) and Garner (20.97) among bowlers who have taken more than 200 wickets. Apart from that Ambrose also has an elegant economy rate of any of the nine bowlers who have taken 400 or more Test wickets, at 2.31 per over. His best performance came out against England at Barbados in 1990, when he took 8-45. He took five wickets or better on 22 occasions, including 7 wickets for 1 run against Australia at the WACA in 1993. He retired from interantional cricket at the end of the England tour in August 2000.

Tags : Cricket, West Indies, Antigua, Cutley Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Georgetown, Guyana

Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers, the legendry West Indies batsman was born on 28 July 1936 in Bridgetown, Barbados. This former cricketer captained West Indies in Test matches taking them to glorious wins. Garry is widely regarded as cricket’s greatest ever all-rounder, having excelled in batting, bowling and fielding. He was honoured by knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II in 1975 for his services to cricket.

Sir Sobers was a left-handed batsman and bowler and his versatility enabled him to bowl all varieties of left-arm bowling from spin to fast-medium. His position as a fielder was close to the wicket. He was also a very capable outfielder.

According to experts, Sobers is the greatest all-round cricketer the world has see Sobers began as an orthodox left arm spinner and then developed his ability to bowl the unorthodox chinaman variety.  He was also a seamer. Garfield Sobers was born in Bridgetown, Barbados. He played for Police team in the 1951–52 season while he was just 15. At the age of 17, he made his second first-class appearance. Sobers made his Test debut in March 1954 against England in Kingston, Jamaica. He led Carribean side against Australia in 1968-69. He captained West Indies for the five-Test home series against India in 1970-71.
In his personal life, he was linked with Indian actress Anju Mahendru. He married Pru Kirby in September 1969.  They got separated in 1990. In the 1975, Sobers received the Knighthood.  Sobers was made a National Hero of Barbados by Prime Minister Owen Arthur in 1998. In 2003 he became an Officer of the Order of Australia.  In 2000 Sobers found berth in the 100-member panel of experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century. In 2004, the International Cricket Council (ICC) inaugurated the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy. In 2007, Gary Sobers was selected by Wisden  as the Leading Cricketer in the World.

Bookmark It

 Del.icio.us    digg  
 Facebook    Google Bookmarks    Stumble It    Technorati    Yahoo! My Web  
Hide Sites Tags : Cricket, Jamaica, India, Australia, West Indies, Barbados, Gary Sobers, Bridgetown, Pru Kirby, Kingston, Queen Elizabeth II, Owen Arthur