Ambrose: Tarouba pitch a bit slow

On Friday evening, during an exhibition T20 match to officially launch the Brian Lara Academy in Tarouba, Ambrose, who was Lara’s teammate on the WI team from 1990- 2000; served as the captain of the International XI that played against the Brian Lara T&T XI.

The 53-year-old lanky pacer opened the bowling for his team and started with a wide that left everyone wondering what had happened to the deadly accuracy which was the hallmark of the international career that brought him rewards of 405 Test wickets (98 Tests) and 225 One Day International (ODI) wickets (176 matches) that marks him as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all-time. Ambrose added drama to the proceedings as he walked straight to the umpire and held both hands and pulled them down to his side in a jovial gesture. Commenting on the state of the pitch, Ambrose stressed that “it’s a new pitch and it was slow. But with more preparation and a lot more matches on them, in the future will help to improve the overall standard and make them better for a good game of cricket.” The 54-year-old Malcolm, who claimed 128 Test wickets in a 40-match career, said, “the pitch was definitely on the slower side. It was sticky and the ball was not going through.

It was tough for me because I have not been playing for a while. I was not fit to bowl against batsmen who were intent on scoring quickly.

“It’s a new surface and with time and more preparation, it will become better for the batsmen as well the bowlers who would want to bowl faster and to unsettle the batsmen. I struggled but did enjoy the experience” added the Jamaican-born Englishman who played county cricket for Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Northamptonshire and finished his First Class career with 1,054 wickets in 304 matches.