“My mother basically forced me to play cricket. And then to try and please her, I did. And like they say, the rest is history. So I guess she knew I had a talent.”
He was a reluctant cricketer. “I never liked cricket. It was just a job.” Then how can someone who didn’t like the game go on to achieve greatness? “I am a proud man.” That’s it. No follow-ups. Nothing. It says everything that’s to say about him. When you probe further he adds, “My pride basically was my motivation. I want to be the best at whatever I do. I strive for excellence. I don’t like to lose. Once I decided cricket was going to be my job, I just wanted to be the best. It’s a lot of hard work.”
....
“I don’t like talking about cricket,” he says the next day. “As a matter of fact, Desmond Haynes said to me one time, that he had never met a cricketer like me. Because I don’t talk cricket. Other guys will talk cricket at breakfast, talk cricket at dinner. I don’t do that. Once I get to the cricket ground, I switch onto cricket. Once I leave the ground, I switch off. I don’t want nothing to do with cricket. So Haynes said to me that I am a strange person.
.....
The obvious thing, then, was to ask about that famous spat with Waugh. It was a hair-raising moment: Ambrose staring down at Waugh as if he meant to hit, Waugh looking back icy cold, and Richardson trying to drag Ambrose out of the crime scene. “You know I am not usually like that. That particular series in 1995 we were in danger of losing our No.1 status. And we were behind in the series and I got a little frustrated. He said something to me that I didn’t like and I responded and we said a thing or two. But it started right there on the pitch and ended right there. We still had mutual respect between us.”
What were you really thinking at that moment? Would you have hit him? “Well I wanted to. I was so frustrated I wanted to vent it out. It was out of character because I am not like that.” Intimidation by that cold stare was his style though.
.....
“But I don’t like sledging, I have never done that. I don’t think that is part of cricket. If you are good at what you do, you shouldn’t resort to sledging to be successful. Because if you do that to get success, then you know that you are not any good. So I let the ball do the talking. I will stare at you and look at you very mean and all that because it was part of my weapon.”
Ambrose remains unique in his appeal.
