Can’t teach a bowler aggression, it has to be within you: West Indies great Curtly Ambrose

Ambrose said it was fellow Antiguan Andy Roberts who encouraged him to embrace aggression while bowling.

West Indies legend Curtly Ambrose feels aggression can’t be taught to bowlers as it’s a trait they ought to be born with, PTI reported.

Ambrose said it was fellow Antiguan Andy Roberts who encouraged him to embrace it while bowling.

“One of the things he mentioned to me was to always be aggressive; to always get under the skin of batsmen,” Ambrose said on a podcast hosted by former England captain Michael Atherton for Sky Sports.

“That stuck in my mind coming from a great man like him.

“I don’t think you can teach a bowler to be aggressive; it has to be something within you. You can try but if a bowler doesn’t have it inside of him, it probably won’t work. For me it worked because I am naturally aggressive while I am competing. It naturally flowed for me.”

Also read: Curtly Ambrose destroys England with a fiery spell of 8/45 in 1990 Barbados Test

Ambrose finished with 405 wickets in 98 Tests at an outstanding average of 20.99. The statuesque pacer’s stare-down to batsmen during his playing days made for spectacular theatre but he is not a fan of verbal volleys.

“If you are good enough at what you do, you let the five-and-a-half ounces [the cricket ball] do the talking for you,” Ambrose added.

“If you keep sledging, you probably aren’t any good. That wasn’t the West Indian way. Five-and-a-half ounces coming at you at 90mph is more than enough.”

Ambrose also remembered the days when he joined the star-studded West Indies setup in the late 1980s.

“When I first made the West Indies team alongside the late, great Malcolm Marshall, as well as Courtney Walsh and Patrick Patterson, I never wanted to be second. I am a proud person and wanted to be the best I can be,” remembered Ambrose.

“I quickly realised for most opposition teams they were probably thinking ‘Curtly is a rookie, so just see off Marshall, Walsh and Patterson’.

“I never wanted that and I was forced to learn quickly so I wouldn’t be the weak link in the chain. Because of my pride, that catapulted me to stardom.”