New ICC Cricket Hall of Fame entrant Ambrose recalls 1995 confrontation with Steve Waugh

London, Sep. 13 : New ICC Cricket Hall of Fame entrant and West Indian great Curtly Ambrose has recalled the time when he aggressively confronted former Australian captain Steve Waugh during a Test series between the West Indies and Australia, when the former was in danger of losing its number one status in world cricket.
Recalling the incident, Ambrose said that Waugh said something to him that he did not like, and at first, he thought he should ignore it, but in the heat of the moment, he decided to give back as good as he he had received.
"I'm not one of those guys who really, you know, gets into any kind of confrontation with cricketers. My stare, you know, does a lot for me and I always believe that, I prefer that the ball do the talking for me. And, in case of Steve Waugh, I've always rated him highly and, I want to believe that he has given me the same kind of respect," said Ambrose.
He further added: "And, it was the heat of the moment. It was a very fierce competition between Australia and West Indies. We were one nil down in the series. There was a bit of a pressure, tension. We are on the brink of losing our number one status, and, you know, I just sort of, he said something that I didn't like. So, I just thought that he should have shown me a little more respect."
"So, I thought that, my first impression was to just let it go and then, after thinking about it, I said no, you know, I started to think to retaliate a little bit. In the heat of the moment, I really wanted to physically beat him, you know to be quite fair," said Ambrose.
"But, the funny thing about it , it happened on a pitch for a brief moment. Nothing else was said after that. You know, I still have the highest respect for him (Waugh), and I believe he has the highest respect for me," Ambrose said.
In 1995, after scoring 65 not out in the drawn Second Test at Antigua, Waugh defied the Caribbean pacemen on a green pitch at Trinidad suited to their hostile bowling during the Third Test.
In the first innings, he scored an unbeaten 63 of Australia''s 128 and had a mid-pitch confrontation with Curtly Ambrose. After Waugh had evaded a bouncer from Ambrose, the pair exchanged glares. Waugh swore and told Ambrose to return to his bowling mark.
An angry Ambrose had to be physically dragged away by his captain Richie Richardson.
A photograph of this moment has become one of the iconic images of cricket in the 1990s. It symbolised the point when Australia was no longer intimidated by the West Indies.
Waugh "showed he was prepared to put it all on the line", said Justin Langer, "in the toughest conditions against probably the best fast bowler of our time. To stand up to him [Ambrose] and go toe to toe gave us a huge boost."
Nevertheless, the West Indies won the match and levelled the series.