LONDON, CMC – Sir Curtly Ambrose says he is all for the exciting Twenty20 format but believes Test cricket remains the holy grail of the international game.
Speaking here earlier this week as he promoted his new autobiography, Time to Talk, the legendary West Indies fast bowler said while T20 was a great way to drive fans to the game, Test cricket was the standard players would continue to be judged by.
“There’s nothing wrong with T20. It is an exciting game, it brings spectators to the game and I have no problem with it but for me I’m old school, so I still believe that Test cricket is the real cricket,” he told TalkSport Radio in an in-studio interview.
“At the end of a career, you will be judged on how much Test matches you played, how many runs you scored and many wickets you’ve taken. You will hardly hear about T20 … Test cricket is the cricket in my opinion and when I say that people say I am too old school but it’s alright, that’s the real cricket for me.”
Sir Curtly also took aim at West Indies players who opted for the lucrative Indian Premier League over commitments to the regional team.
He said it was “unfair” that these players were allowed to easily get back into the West Indies team once their IPL commitments were finished, at the expense of players who had committed themselves to the regional outfit wholesale.
“I have no problem with guys plying their trade elsewhere to make money because cricket as you know … can be a short life so if a guy wants to secure his future financially I have no problems with it but it really hurts that we can’t put our best team out there every single day,” said Sir Curtly, who serves as a bowling consultant to the West Indies team.
“When you’ve got six, seven, eight of your top players in the IPL then we’re not going to be as strong as we want to be and apart from that, it hurts me that when other guys stay back in the Caribbean, work hard sacrifice for the team and these same star players just walk right back into the setup. That to me is unfair and I can’t support that.”
Sir Curtly played 98 Tests during an illustrious career, snaring 405 wickets at an impeccable average of 20.99. He is only behind Courtney Walsh – who finished with 519 wickets – on the all-time West Indies list.
