Australia vs West Indies rivalry dominated the 1990s given that the Mark Taylor-led Australians were on the ascendency, while the Richie Richardson-led West Indies were in the twilight of their dominant run in Test cricket.
It all came down to the 1995 series between the two sides which was played in the Caribbean and the four Test-match series was leveled at 1-1 when Mark Taylor-led Australia traveled to Jamaica for the final Test.
The West Indies had not lost a single Test series from 1980 till then and this match proved to be a thrilling encounter that saw a fierce battle between Steve Waugh and Curtly Ambrose, which almost came to blows.
“Curtly Ambrose was a great bowler. He was an incredible adversary and my most respected opponent. He never said anything to you, and that was worse than sledging. You didn’t know what he was thinking, is he trying to get me out, or is he going to hurt me,” Waugh said in an interview with former England cricketer Michael Atherton on Sky Sports’ YouTube.
“That’s worse than someone telling you what they are going to do. He was always there on the good length, and his short ball was always on the throat. He was an incredible competitor,” he added.
Steve Waugh managed to score 200 in the Jamaica Test and talking about the innings, he says, “Coach Bob Simpson said ‘this is not good enough. Somewhere, one of you guys need to go and get a big hundred, and we said ‘well, hang on look, why don’t you go and try this, those are four quicks, and we are doing our best’.”
“Are we tough enough? Can we break through and get that big score’ That happened in the 200 I scored in Jamaica. Sometimes you need to be told the truth and he told us ‘you are soft, and need to do better’. And getting that 200 was the highlight of my career, against the best team in the world that had been unbeaten in 15 years,” Waugh said.
With brother Mark making 126, Australia posted 531 in their first innings in response to Windies’ 265 and took a lead of 266 runs. West Indies was bowled out for 213 in the second innings and lost the Test by an innings and 53 runs.
Australia won the Test series 2-1 and brought down curtains on the dynasty of West Indies cricket.
