West Indies, a team that once possessed the fiercest pace quartet in cricket — Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Colin Croft — now rarely field three genuine quicks in an eleven, a fact that greatly pains Caribbean fast bowling legend Sir Curtly Ambrose.
Ambrose, who is currently in Dhaka working as a commentator in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), feels that a lack of sporting wickets has stagnated the production of fast bowlers in the Caribbean.
“I can give you an example on how the lack of emphasis on sporting pitches have hurt West Indies when it comes to producing new fast bowlers in the recent years,” said Ambrose.
“Pitches in the Caribbean in the recent years are slow and low and I have seen no more than two seamers in the playing eleven, which is disappointing,” he added.
“Pace bowling is a different art where a lot depends on how the surface plays for the seamers. You have to provide the opportunity for both the bowlers and batters to have an equal contest which would ultimately help develop the skills of the cricketers overall.
Ambrose also pointed at how difficult it is for pacers to ignore the lure of lucrative Twenty20 leagues around the world and keep their focus on other formats.
“You can’t blame the pacers to be honest. T20 cricket is taking over the game in the recent years and it takes a lot out of them to cope up with that. It’s also lucrative for the players to overturn the opportunities that they now get since there are too many franchise leagues going around worldwide.
“But I think if you got the skills a pacer can shine in any format of the game but fitness remains as the biggest challenge,” said Ambrose.