DUBLIN, Ireland, CMC – Strokemaker Sunil Ambris yesterday described his maiden One-Day International hundred as the finest moment of his career, and said he was honoured to be the first Vincent batsmen to reach triple figures for West Indies.
The 26-year-old slammed a superb 148 off 126 deliveries as West Indies produced their highest-ever successful run chase of 328 to beat Ireland by five wickets in their third match of the Tri-Nations Series at The Village in Malahide.
“It is something that I can’t explain. To be honest, I don’t know how I’m feeling – it’s out of this world,” Ambris said afterwards.
“It’s something that I’ve been working towards and that I wanted to achieve. Being from St Vincent, nobody there has ever done that and it’s something that I really wanted to do.”
He added: “It was something that I knew that no batsman from St Vincent had ever done … so it’s something I always had in the back of my head that I’d love to be the first to have an international hundred.”
The right-handed Ambris struck 19 fours and a six, posting 84 for the first wicket with Shai Hope (30) before dominating a third wicket stand of 128 with Roston Chase who made 46.
He raced to his half-century off just 43 balls and required only another 46 balls to reach triple figures in the 28th over.
Ambris, in only his fourth ODI, said he found momentum early in his innings and was never troubled by the Ireland bowlers.
“It’s probably the best I’ve batted in international cricket. I haven’t played much games and I think that’s also my first List A hundred. Once I got in, I tried to carry it as deep as possible and that’s what I did,” he explained.
“I started very fluently so it wasn’t a case where I was bogged down so it was easy for me. I got boundaries early up and I was always going at more than a run-a-ball so it wasn’t the hardest of innings.
“The guys I was batting with made it a lot easier – they’ve been there and done that before, especially Hopey (Hope) and (Darren) Bravo and it basically made things a lot easier.”
Ambris usually bats in the middle or lower order but grabbed the chance to move up to the opening spot in the last game against Bangladesh when John Campbell was forced out with a sore back.
He said his decision was based on his motivation to be among the runs for West Indies.
“I don’t usually bat at the top,” he noted.
“I saw it as a good opportunity to get a big score because in this setup I was slated to bat at seven so I said to myself ‘it is either seven or open’ so why not take it at the top.”
