Curtly Ambrose Recalls His 1995 Altercation With Steve Waugh Where He Threatened To 'Knock Out' Steve Waugh

Curtly Ambrose, legendary West Indian fast bowler, who terrorized batsmen around the world with his sustained hostility, discipline, relentless accuracy and of-course truckloads of skills, recently opened up on the infamous verbal altercation that took place between him and former Australian captain Steve Waugh during the third Test of the 1995 Test series between West Indies and Australia at the Queens Park Oval, Port of Spain.

Ambrose rarely indulged in sledging during his career for he always believed [and everyone will vouch for that] that his physical stature and his skills were enough to do the job for him But on April 21st, 1995, even the great man couldn’t control himself from engaging in a heated altercation, so-much-so that he was literally dragged away by his captain Richie Richardson. Ambrose was at the top of his game.

On a seamer-friendly pitch in Trinidad, Ambrose had run-riot against the Australian batting-unit barring Steve Waugh, who chipped-away with a half-century to help the visitors move past the 100-run-mark.After bowling a delivery, Ambrose gave Waugh a steely stare which led the Aussie to say a few not so kind words to the great fast bowler. Waugh’s verbal-volleys did not go down well with Ambrose. And, then after the break, Ambrose admits something snapped!

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“I was upset as I deserved more respect”- Curtly Ambrose on his heated altercation with Steve Waugh in 1995

“Steve Waugh and I had our battles over the years. He was a tough competitor and I have a lot of respect for him but in that particular game he said something to me that I didn’t like.” Curtly Ambrose said on Sky Sports Podcast.

“Initially I ignored it, as in the heat of the battle you can say things, but after a break something just snapped. I asked him, ‘did you say so and so to me?’ He didn’t say yes, he didn’t say no. He just said ‘I can say anything I want to say’ which to me was a yes. I decided I deserved more respect so I had a few choice words for him,” the legendary fast bowler added.

“I said ‘my cricket career could be over right this minute, it doesn’t make a difference to me, but your career will be over, too, because I’ll knock you out and you won’t be able to play anymore’. There were a few expletives in between obviously,” Curtly Ambrose added.

Ambrose, however, added that both he and Waugh have never spoken about that incident in the meetings that they have had since that event.

“I was upset as I deserved more respect – but it started and ended there. I have seen him a few times since and we have never spoken about it,” he said

Coming back to that Test match, Curtly Ambrose claimed nine wickets across two innings as the home side went on to win the game by nine wickets. Steve Waugh, however, had the last laugh as he scored a brilliant double-hundred in the next game at Antigua that paved the way for Australia’s historic series win against the former world champions.

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