Is he trying to get me out or is he trying to hurt me: Steve Waugh recalls battle with Curtly Ambrose

Steve Waugh’s double hundred against West Indies in the 1995 Jamaica Test was probably one of the top innings played by an Australian. The four Test-match series was levelled at 1-1 when the Mark Taylor-led Australia travelled to Jamaica for the decider. In a recent interaction, Waugh recalled his famous innings from the Test and explained how words from the then coach Bob Simpson inspired him to challenge the West Indies pace attack.

Speaking to former England cricketer Michael Artherton in a Sky Sports Youtube video interview, Waugh praised Ambrose, with whom he had a few exchanges of words in the 3rd Test in the series in Trinidad.

Also Read | A Pak fan started abusing us: Shankar on absurd scene ahead of WC match

“Curtly Ambrose was a great bowler. He was an incredible adversary and my most respected opponent. He never said anything to you, and that was worse than sledging. You didn’t know what he was thinking, is he trying to get me out, or is he going to hurt me,” Waugh said.

“That’s worse than someone telling you what they are going to do. He was always there on the good length, and his short ball was always on the throat. He was an incredible competitor,” he added.

Talking about his innings, Waugh went on: “The West Indies innings made me as a player and probably goes back to Bob Simpson. He doesn’t get a lot of credit. After the first couple of Tests, he sat our group of batsmen down and he said ‘this is not good enough. Somewhere, one of you guys need to go and get a big hundred, and we said ‘well, hang on look, why don’t you go and try this, those are four quicks, and we are doing our best’.

Also Read | How an evening tea party decided players will be auctioned in IPL

“But I walked away from that meeting and I thought ‘maybe there is something in what he is saying. Are we tough enough? Can we break through and get that big score’.

“That happened in the 200 I scored in Jamaica. Sometimes you need to be told the truth and he told us ‘you are soft, and need to do better’. And getting that 200 was the highlight of my career, against the best team in the world that had been unbeaten in 15 years,” Waugh said.

With Waugh’s 200 and his brother’s Mark Waugh’s 126, Australia posted 531 in the first innings in response to Windies’ 265, taking a lead of 266 runs. West Indies were bowled out for 213 in the 2nd innings as Australia won the match by an innings and 53 runs, and also won the series 2-1.