By Neto Baptiste
Some 36 years after making his Test debut for the senior West Indies team, former fast bowler Sir Curtly Ambrose said the game has gotten soft.
Speaking on the Good Morning JoJo sports show on April 2, the day marking three decades and six years since he made his debut against Pakistan in Guyana, Sir Curtly said the game was once about enthralling battles between batsmen and bowlers.
“Look at all of the rules and regulations they have now, everything is tailor made for batting in terms of shorter boundaries; the bats have gotten bigger and thicker so it’s just like the powers that be want to see sixes and fours and so cricket has gotten soft.
“There are too many rules and regulations and there is no greater spectacle in cricket than a great fast bowler against a great batsman, where you can bowl some bouncers and the batsmen may be hooking and top edging and jumping and skipping; spectators like that kind of confrontation or competition. Now, it’s so different because they take away the fun from cricket and ball versus bat,” he said.
Sir Curtly, who claimed 405 wickets in 98 Tests, acknowledged that some rules are necessary to protect players, but believes umpires could be allowed to differentiate between a bowler’s natural aggression or wilful intent.
“If a fast bowler starts to overdo, then that’s where the umpire should step in and say, listen, Mr Ambrose I think you’re overdoing the short ball so cut back on it. You don’t want a bowler to be bowling six bumpers per over for the next two or three overs and no bowler in their right mind is going to bowl six bouncers in an over; it’s not going to happen,” he said.
In 1991, the International Cricket Council (ICC) first introduced a “one bouncer per batter per over” rule in an attempt to discourage the use of intimidation. However, the ruling was not well received by players and umpires alike, and the ICC changed it to two bouncers per over in 1994, with a two-run no-ball penalty if the bowler exceeded two bouncers an over.
