Turbulence times ahead for Windies
the Daily Mail newspaper: “It does hurt. And it has reached a point where it is very embarrassing.
“For now, I’m just hoping West Indies can compete at Headingley and Lord’s [in the third Test] because what we have seen so far has been pathetic.”
It is now 17 years since a West Indies side won a Test in England and, as Vaughan suggested, “every time they have arrived here, they seem to have got worse”.
The halcyon days of those thrilling 1980s and early 1990s teams, when Ambrose and his fellow pace demons inspired fear and batting blasters like Viv Richards looked so imperious on English tours, have never felt more like pre-history.
The problems that have beset the sport in the Caribbean for so long were highlighted brutally in the Edgbaston debacle.
The West Indies may be the Twenty20 world champions but the mainstays of that triumph – like Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo and Darren Sammy – now play lucrative T20 tournaments around the world rather than representing the West Indies after constant pay disputes with Cricket West Indies.
The world T20 win and the U19 team’s world championship victory last year tell of talent and potential that can still be harnessed in the Caribbean game.
Yet at Test level, the internal conflicts have led to serial under-performing with the Windies having not won a Test series away from home, other than against the “minnows” Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, for 22 years.
Without senior players to guide them, it was the way the young team folded so meekly at Edgbaston that upset Ambrose.
“I talked with Sir Viv Richards and Sir Andy Roberts at length before and during the Test about how we used to dominate world cricket, about our pride and passion. That’s what’s lacking,” wrote Ambrose.
Ambrose was desperate to see an improvement at Headingley. “Come back with aggression, confidence and commitment,” he commanded the class of 2017.
“Our history and the pride we once had in our cricket demands it.” — Reuters