Curtly Ambrose joins the elite club

Curtly Ambrose became the second West Indian and only the fifth bowler in Test annals to aggregate 400 wickets when he had England opener Michael Atherton caught by Brian Lara at first slip on the opening day of the Headingley Test.

The first bowler to take 400 Test wickets was New Zealander Richard Hadlee on 4 February, 1990 against India at Christchurch. He reached this landmark at the age of 38 years 216 days in his 80thTest. India's Kapil Dev equalled this feat on 3 February, 1992 against Australia in Perth at the age of 33 years 28 days after 115 Tests. West Indian Courtney Walsh reached that total on 5 March, 1999 against Australia at Port-of-Spain at the age of 36 years 126 days in his 107th Test. Pakistan's Wasim Akram became the first ever bowler to take 400 wickets in both forms of international cricket-Tests and ODIs on 16 June, 2000 against Sri Lanka at Colombo SSC at the age of 34 years 13 days. Wasim had already taken 427 wickets in shorter version of the game at that time. Ambrose was playing his 97th Test and was 36 years 331 days old while taking his 400th wicket.

Born on 21 September 1963, Curtly Elconn Lyndwall Ambrose made his Test debut against Pakistan on 2 April, 1988 at the age of 24 years 193 days. Since then batsmen world over have feared him a bit more than any one else. 6 feet 7 inches tall Ambrose is known to produce awesome performances when it really matters.

The following tables give details of Ambrose's performances in Test cricket:

Performance Against Each Country:

Opponent Tests Balls Runs Wkts Ave. Best 5WI 10WM RPO SR

v Australia 27 6696 2717 128 21.22 7-25 8 1 2.43 52.3 v England 33 7912 2985 159 18.77 8-45 8 2 2.26 49.7 v India 9 1491 574 15 38.26 5-87 1 0 2.30 99.4 v New Zealand 4 799 277 13 21.30 5-68 1 0 2.08 61.4 v Pakistan 14 2872 1170 42 27.85 5-35 1 0 2.44 68.3 v South Africa 5 1113 390 21 18.57 6-34 2 0 2.10 53.0 v Sri Lanka 3 387 190 14 13.57 5-37 1 0 2.94 27.6 v Zimbabwe 2 462 100 8 12.50 4-42 0 0 1.29 57.7

Home 52 11325 4301 203 21.18 8-45 11 2 2.27 55.7 Away 45 10407 4102 197 20.82 7-25 11 1 2.36 52.8 Total 97 21732 8403 400 21.00 8-45 22 3 2.31 54.3

The Progress Chart:

1st 1st Mudassar Nazar (Pakistan) Georgetown 1987-88 50th 12th Mark Taylor (Australia) Sydney 1988-89 100th 25th Mark Waugh (Australia) Georgetown 1990-91 150th 35th Damien Martyn (Australia) Brisbane 1992-93 200th 45th Mike Atherton (England) Georgetown 1993-94 250th 58th Mike Atherton (England) Manchester 1995 300th 71st Sajeewa de Silva (Sri Lanka) St.John's 1997-98 350th 84th Gary Kirsten (South Africa) Cape Town 1998-99 400th 97th Mike Atherton (England) Leeds 2000

The following players have been dismissed by Ambrose in Test cricket. England's Mike Atherton has the dubious distinction of being dismissed most often by Ambrose (17 times), followed by Australia's Mark Waugh (15) and Jack Russell (13). Australia's Steve Waugh has been dismissed by Ambrose on 11 occasions, while England's Graeme Hick has been sent back by Ambrose on 10 occasions.

Four batsmen have fallen to Ambrose 9 times apiece: England's Graham Thorpe and Australia's Allan Border, Geoff Marsh and Mark Taylor.

Three batsmen have been sent back eight times each: England's Robin Smith and Austarlia's David Boon and Merv Hughes.

Two have been Ambrose's victims seven times each: England's Allan Lamb and Australia's Ian Healy.

Two have been out six times each: England's Alec Stewart and Phil DeFreitas.

Five have been out five times each: England's Andrew Caddick, Chris Lewis and Mark Ramprakash and Australia's Damien Martyn and Shane Warne.

Six batsmen have been sent packing 4 times each: England's Mark Butcher, Graham Gooch and Dean Headley and Australia's Greg Blewett, Jason Gillespie and Tim May .

Seventeen players have been toppled by Ambrose on three occasions apiece: six Englishmen:John Crawley, Angus Fraser, Darren Gough, Wayne Larkins, Davon Malcolm and Phil Tufnell, six Pakistanis: Javed Miandad, Moin Khan, Rameez Raja, Shoaib Mohammad, Wasim Akram and Younis Khan; three Australians: Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer and Glenn McGrath; one South African: Shaun Pollock and one Zimbabwean: Alistair Campbell.

Forty-two have succumbed to Ambrose on two occasions each: twelve Englishmen: Robert Bailey, David Capel, Dominick Cork, Graham Dilley, John Emburey, J Gallian, Nasser Hussain, Peter Martin, Jack Richards, Glad Small, Michael Vaughan and Steve Watkin; seven Pakistanis: Aamer Sohail, Imran Nazir, Mudassar Nazar, Mushtaq Ahmed, Saeed Anwar, Waqar Younis and Zahid Fazal; six Australians: Dean Jones, Stuart MacGill, Greg Matthews, Paul Reiffel, Peter Taylor and Graeme Wood; five Indians: Mohammad Azharuddin, Abey Kuruvilla, VVS Laxman, Chetan Sharma and Navjot Sidhu; five South Africans: Hansie Cronje, Allan Donald, Gary Kirsten, Jonty Rhodes and Mark Rushmere; four New Zealanders: Dareen Murray, Ken Rutherford, Craig Spearman and Roger Twose and three Sri Lankans: Russel Arnold, Kumara Dharmasena and Roshan Mahanama.

Sixty-four players have been dismissed by Ambrose on one occasion each: fourteen Englishmen: Bill Athey, Ian Botham, Chris Broad, Tim Curtis, David Gower, Adam Hollioake, Richard Illingworth, Paul Jarvis, Matthew Maynard, Hugh Morris, Martin Moxon, Derek Pringle, Marcus Trescothick and Alan Wells; ten Pakistanis: Aamer Malik, Abdul Qadir, Ijaz Ahmed, Imran Khan, Mohammad Wasim, Saleem Jaffer, Saleem Yousuf, Saqlain Mushtaq, Shakeel Ahmed (junior) and Yousuf Youhana; nine Australians: Joe Angel, Michael Bevan, Adam Dale, Tony Dodemaide, Matthew Elliott, Brendon Julian, Craig McDermott, Ricky Ponting and Michael Slater; eight South Africans: Mark Boucher, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Hudson, Jacques Kallis, Meryck Pringle, Dave Richardson, Pat Symcox and Kepler Wessels; eight Sri Lankans: Don Anurasiri, Sajeewa de Silva, Aravinda de Silva, Sanath Jayasuriya, Ruwan Kalpage, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Muttiah Muralitharan and Pramodya Wickremasinghe; five Indians: Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly, Sunil Joshi, Sanjay Manjrekar and Ravi Shastri; five New Zealanders: Nathan Astle, Lee Germon, Chris Harris, Danny Morrison and Dion Nash and five Zimbabweans: Stuart Carlisle, Trevor Gripper, Neil Johnson, M Mbangwa and Henry Olonga.

Note: Ambrose has dismissed right handed batsmen on 310 occasions (77.5 %) and left handed batsmen on 90 occasions (22.5 %).

Mode of Dismissals :

Home    Away    Total
Bowled                       44      39       83
LBW                          32      18       50
Caught in the field          77      92      169
Caught by keeper             47      47       94
Caught & Bowled               3       0        3
Hit Wicket                    0       1        1
Total                       203     197      400

Note: Wicket-keeper Jeff Dujon has taken maximum catches off the bowling of Ambrose(30).

Leading wicket takers in Test cricket:

475 Courtney Walsh 121 137 124 26 X 43 65 63 8 9 434 Kapil Dev 131 85 79 8 89 25 X 99 45 4 431 Richard Hadlee 86 97 130 0 51 X 65 51 37 0 407 Wasim Akram 98 50 50 13 62 60 45 X 80 47 400 Curtly Ambrose 98 159 128 21 X 13 15 42 14 8

Tests taken to reach each progressive landmark of 50 wickets:

Richard Hadlee 14 25 34 44 56 61 69 80 X Kapil Dev 16 25 39 50 65 83 100 115 X Courtney Walsh 14 29 44 58 70 80 96 107 118 Wasim Akram 16 30 41 51 60 70 82 96 X Curtly Ambrose 12 25 35 45 58 71 84 97 X

Note: All Statistics are upto the first day of Headingley Test between England and West Indies.