Come the final Test at the Kennington Oval starting later this week, a very special fast bowling partnership, half of which, Courtney Walsh, started in 1984/5 at Perth, Australia, the other half, Curtly Ambrose, starting in 1988 at Georgetwon, Guyana, will be "over and done with" (to coin a Caribbean phrase).

The like of this partnership may never be seen again. When he completes his 98th Test match at The Oval, after already having 402 wickets in the first 97, Curtly Elcon Lyndwall Ambrose will no longer be a Test cricketer.

Says Ambrose: "I know when I have had enough. I am not enjoying my cricket as much as I used to. I am certain that the time for me to take my exit is now. I have always given my best but it is just about the time now for the youngsters to take over the mantle. I hope that I have passed on as much as I can about fast bowling, so it is now up to them. I have had enough."

Many international teams have had great fast bowling partners. Harold Larwood and Bill Voce of England, Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller of Australia, Fred Truman and Brian Statham of England, Mike Procter and Peter Pollock of South Africa. Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith of the West Indies, Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thompson of Australia, Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram of Pakistan or Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock of South Africa.

Then there was the advent of the four-pronged fast bowling attack, featuring Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thompson, Gary Gilmour and Max Walker of Australia; Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner and Colin Croft (with Malcolm Marshall waiting in the wings) of the West Indies; or much more recently, in the current England v West Indies series, Darren Gough, Andy Caddick, Dominic Cork and Craig White of England.

Somehow the fast bowling pairs seem to have more of a place in history than the four-pronged fast bowling attack, which seems to be more associated with clinical carnage, despite the fact that each member of each quartet was/is a completely different bowler to the other three.

As an enduring pair, the names of Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh may live on for eternity, as they are almost immortal. We should remember them for many a decade, perhaps many a century. The legacies they will leave after they finish with Test cricket will be very difficult to beat. The achievements of the two are mind-boggling.

Perhaps the great disappointment will be that Ambrose will not get to that coveted 100 Test match appearance, just failing to become the sixth West Indian to reach the landmark. At The Oval Ambrose will end up with 98 Tests, behind Courtney Walsh (122), Viv Richards (121), Desmond Haynes (116), Clive Lloyd (110) and Gordon Greenidge (108).

To date Ambrose and Walsh have played 97 and 121 Tests respectively. Incredibly, they have played in 94 Tests together. Ambrose has played in only three Test Matches in which his "senior" partner, Walsh, did not participate. Of those 94 Tests, the West Indies have won 42, while losing 24. No two players could have been more responsible for their team's overall success, over such a long period of time, 1988-2000, than Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh.

No other pair anywhere, at any time, could even come close to these almost unbelievable statistics. What a pair of fast bowlers!!

The bowling feats are special. In 97 Tests, Ambrose has taken 402 Test wickets, joining Courtney Walsh, who has 476 from 121, Kapil Dev of India, Wasim Akram of Pakistan and (Sir) Richard Hadlee of New Zealand as the only cricketers to have taken at least 400 Test wickets in their careers.

To date, Ambrose has bowled nearly 22,000 Test deliveries, while Walsh has sent down nearly 27,000. At an average of about 20 meters in a 'run-up' for each delivery, Ambrose will have covered approximately 440,000 meters (approximately 440 kilometers), Walsh about 540,000 meters (540 kilometers). That would mean that Ambrose took one Test wicket for approximately every 1.10 kilometers of work, while Walsh had one Test wicket for every 1.14 kilometers of work. If that is not fitness, know-how, determination, longevity, production and success, at the highest level, all rolled in one bundle, then nothing is.

Ambrose and Walsh have each taken 10 wickets in Tests three times. Ambrose has taken 5 wickets in a Test innings 22 times, while Walsh has done it 21 times. Ambrose has taken a wicket every 54 deliveries (or every nine overs) while Walsh gets a wicket every 56 deliveries. Their economy rate is stingey; Ambrose 2.32 runs per over, Walsh 2.59. Their bowling averages are astounding: Ambrose 20.96 runs per wicket, Walsh 24.32 runs per wicket. Almost perfection from two cricketers who, between them, have now played 218 Test matches, and have 878 Test wickets. Absolutely incredible!

Courtney Walsh has suggested that "he will let us all know, at the end of this tour, what his plans for retirement are." Since Curtly Ambrose has already said that he is retiring after The Oval, perhaps the last word should be with him:

"I really do not know which of my spells was the absolute best. I surely remember that my first Test wicket was that of Mudassar Nazar (of Pakistan; Georgetwon, Guyana, 1988) and that, even more special, Michael Atherton (of England; Leeds, Yorkshire, 2000) was my 400th. Of my spells, the 6-24 (against England at Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, 1994) was good, but the 8-45 (against England at the Kensington Oval, Barbados, 1990) was also good, while the 7-25 (against Australia at Perth, Western Australia, 1992-3) was also special.

"All of these were in different circumstances, with one common factor. We might have lost the matches without my input. Each allowed us to win the specific Test, so they were all special in their own right. Even here, in the 2nd Test at Lord's, I kept the pressure on by bowling 22 tight overs and had 1-22; not fantastic figures, but I kept the pressure on the batsmen at all times to help 'Cuddy'".

That pressure, described by Michael Atherton as "a tremendous weight on the batsmen" allowed Courtney Walsh to get 6-74 from 23-5 overs, in my mind Walsh's best effort in Test cricket, as the West Indies just failed to beat England.

Says Ambrose about Walsh: "I am going to miss my great partner and friend. We have gone through a great lot together, good and bad, ups and downs. He was so eager and happy for me to join him in the "400 club". Man, I am going to miss him terribly."

"Amby" and "Cuddy" will be badly missed by most of us, West Indian or not, and not least by me. These guys were from a special mould, perhaps broken forever, certainly irreplaceable. As the saying goes; "They don't make them like these any more."

To paraphrase Sir Winston Churchill: "Never will so much, over 200 Test matches, be owed to so few by so many - more than seven million people in the Caribbean". Indeed the entire world cricketing fraternity owes these guys a lot. While they might not be legends "in their own minds", because of their downright modesty, they certainly are legends in our time!

Never again - one could almost put a wager on it - will the West Indies, perhaps the entire sporting world, have two such sportsmen, such performers, simultaneously. Never again will the pride of performance, the determination to succeed, the "never say die" attitude of always giving at least 100%, be more visible, in any sporting endeavour, than from Courtney Andrew Walsh and Curtly Elcon Lyndwall Ambrose, who give everything they know to provide success for the West Indies cricket team, and by extension, cohesion and presence for the entire Caribbean.

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