CURTLY AMBROSE is a man of notoriously few words. But with a rare public pronouncement after breathing new life into a previously one sided fight for the Frank Worrell Trophy, Ambrose proved that he tries to stick to the handful he utters.
"I told my team mates that I would take 10 wickets in this match," said a relaxed Ambrose at his first press conference since 1993. "We need to win to stay in the series and if I take 10, we win easy. Now I am halfway home."
Ambrose was less forthcoming about the reasons for his sudden discovery of form and, just as significantly, enthusiasm. "I hadn't been bowling as well as I can in the other games but I have not been that bad either," he claimed. Yet this was a different Curtly from the one who looked so sulky fielding down at third man in the first two Tests, and all from the moment he joked with the crowd about a misfield early in the day.
Perhaps it was the crowd that inspired him. The 72.821 present made up the MCG's third highest St Stephen's Day attendance in history, and the best for a Test in Australia since 1975, when Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson fought Caribbean fire with fire and attracted more than 85,000 to watch.
Whatever the reason, Ambrose felt good enough to bowl 25 of the 38 overs from the Pavilion End in Australia's innings, capturing five for 55. It took him only three balls to ruin Matthew Hayden's long awaited return to Test cricket, first rattling the Queensland opener with a short delivery and inducing a loose drive, and an edge to second slip. Mark Taylor, who won the toss, jabbed down on a short, quick ball which followed him and ricocheted into his stumps; Ambrose's next delivery was full and straight, tempting Mark Waugh into a drive and trapping him leg before thanks to umpire Venkat's brave, and correct, decision. That was 26 for three, and Ambrose had three for three in seven overs. In his next Justin Langer, who had just pulled Kenny Benjamin for six, was run out after a disastrous mix up with Steve Waugh.
Yet 20 minutes after tea, Australia were sitting relatively pretty at 195 for five. As in the first Test, when they recovered from 196 for five to make 479, and then in Sydney (331 after being 131 for five), their stubborn lower middle order exposed the lack of variety in the West Indies' attack.
Waugh put the run out behind him to make 58 in 163 minutes, sharing a stand of 102 with Greg Blewett, who then added 66 for the sixth wicket with Ian Healy until Ambrose went around the wicket, on the advice of coach Malcolm Marshall, to have the Australian wicketkeeper caught in the slips. Healy's series average has now tumbled to less than 170.
Paul Reiffel handed Benjamin his only wicket, chasing a wide ball, but it was the loss of Blewett to another crazy run out that ended Aussie hopes of a total approaching 300. Glenn McGrath was Ambrose's fifth victim, Venkat's caught behind decision adding insult to injury - a badly bruised shoulder where the ball clearly struck McGrath.
However that was probably a net gain for Australia as the tall paceman charged in with Ambrose style hostility and demanded a leg before decision - against Sherwin Campbell.
