Re: Fast bowling thread- Currently discussing Curtly Ambrose

by PlanetPakistan on Wed Feb 11, 2009 11:33 am

Lets start discussing the big man from Antigua...

I reckon the SECOND greatest fast bowler of the last 20 years behind Wasim...

by PlanetPakistan on Wed Feb 11, 2009 11:34 am

PlanetPakistan wrote:Quick rule
2 pages per fast bowler(can extend to 3 with mutual agreement)

Lets start by discussing A Donald

Some ideas to get the ball rolling

1-How good?
2- How exciting?
3- Favorite/memorable moment?
4- Best performance?

My answers
1- very good...on par with Burenwala bombshell(Waqar Younis)
2- Very exciting...excellent action.
3- Spell vs Atherton and the bouncer to Sultan Zarwani(that in itself deserves a separate thread)
4- Not sure....

1- 2nd greatest(its VERY close though) of the last 20 years
2- MOST times he was quite exciting but on super flat pitches i thought he didn't try as hard.
3- ....7/1 at the WACA
4- Same

by Gary 111 on Wed Feb 11, 2009 5:36 pm

1) Tied with McGrath as best bowler of the last 20 years
2) Very charismatic - on his day he was frighteningly good
3) Seeing him get his 400th Test wicket live at Headingley. He just stood there with his arms aloft and only Courtney Walsh was tall enough to give him a high five.
4) WACA and Barbados '90 spring to mind, but for sheer adrenaline and thrill then Trinidad '94 as to be the best. Made me want to hide behind the sofa.

by PeterCS on Wed Feb 11, 2009 5:48 pm

1) Outstanding. Difficult to compare very different bowlers and styles.
2) It's the (sometimes steepling) bounce that created the excitment. Great height and a high arm, with a handsome action, creating venom. Gary has a point that if the pitch was not so responsive, he wasn't always up for it. Understandable. Tough for "special effort" fast bowlers to flog a dead horse.
3) Whevever his super-brooding scowl turned into a massive grin from ear to ear. The gentle giant inside the "assassin".
4) Again, I am not sure I would pick one out. There were many highlights. And on his day he could trash any lineup.

by embee on Wed Feb 11, 2009 7:13 pm

I was at the WACA when he took his 7/1 ...unbelievable bowling

My favourite moment was that JAMODI when Deano the peanut asked him to remove his white sweatbands ...Stoopid Vomit Farquit

by Guest on Thu Feb 12, 2009 12:14 am

Great bowler.

Just behind McGrath near the very top.

by PlanetPakistan on Thu Feb 12, 2009 9:06 am

Ambrose= better and quicker version of Mcgrath.

by PlanetPakistan on Thu Feb 12, 2009 9:15 am

by PeterCS on Thu Feb 12, 2009 9:21 am

More *exciting* than McGrath, I'd prefer to say. Unless perhaps you are a "Corridor of Uncertainty Fanatic".

It's that bounce that made CA extra dangerous, and less predictable.

Pidge was a top-grade bowler, by working and nagging and winkling them out. Curtly was more one who harried and bombed them out.

Not much comparison in terms of styles. Both great bowlers, in very different ways.

by PlanetPakistan on Thu Feb 12, 2009 9:30 am

PeterCS wrote:More *exciting* than McGrath, I'd prefer to say. Unless perhaps you are a "Corridor of Uncertainty Fanatic".

It's that bounce that made CA extra dangerous, and less predictable.

Pidge was a top-grade bowler, by working and nagging and winkling them out. Curtly was more one who harried and bombed them out.

Not much comparison in terms of styles. Both great bowlers, in very different ways.

correct.....

and that is exactly why i think Ambrose> Mcgrath