Bowling Legend Defends Comments, Expresses Disappointment In ABCA Head

Former national, Leeward Islands and West Indies fast bowler, Sir Curtly Ambrose, has responded to what he has termed “unfair criticisms” by the president of the local cricket association, Leon Rodney, following his critique of local cricket while carrying commentary for a Regional 4 Day match in Trinidad recently.
Rodney accused the Antiguan of unfairly giving a negative review of the standard of cricket in Antigua and urged him to “watch more local cricket” if he wants a more accurate picture of the standard of the game here.
But according to Sir Curtly, he is well aware of the issues affecting cricket in Antigua, adding that Rodney may have taken his comments out of context.
“I watch local sports in general. You might not see me in a big crowd making noise and all of that because I don’t do that. When I go to watch sports, I want to be by myself mostly and watch the games so I watch local cricket, local sports. As a matter of fact, he is saying I don’t know what’s going on in Antigua but I know exactly what’s going on,” he said.
“Bishop asked me about the cricket in Antigua because Leeward Islands cricket has been struggling for years so I said to him that the cricket in Antigua, the standard is not good at the moment and I went on to say that it one of the reasons Leewards are struggling so much. I also said to him that when you look at some of the teams [in Antigua] you still have people like Vaughn ‘Hungry’ Walsh still playing cricket. I could have mentioned people like Roxy Joseph and Hardy James and stuff, but because Bishop would not have known those names, I just mentioned ‘Hungry’ Walsh,” he added.
The former player who claimed 225 wickets in 175 One Day Internationals (ODI), expressed his disappointment that Rodney chose to take his disapproval to the airwaves before seeking to address them directly with him.
“If I said something that the president didn’t like, I see the president nearly every day so he could have even called me and said well you know, I heard you made this comment and I am not happy about it and then I could have said that it was x, y or z,” Sir Curtly said.
“Why would you want to come on OBSERVER Radio making it look as [though] I don’t know what’s going on in Antigua?” he added.
Signalling his willingness to assist in the development of cricket, Sir Curtly said he would accept any invitation by the cricket fraternity to play a role.
“I am not going to go running behind of anybody to ask them to help because that is embarrassing. If you want help you come to me and I am more than willing to help you. The same way the president, Mr ‘Kuma’ Rodney, could come and the radio and say I said whatever, if he wants help then why doesn’t he come and ask for help,” he said.
“If I did say something really positive about Antigua cricket, I am wondering if he would have come on OBSERVER Radio and say, ‘Well done, Ambi’,” the former played added.
The legendary fast bowler also appeared in 98 Tests, claiming 405 wickets at an average of 20.99.