CRICKET star Sir Curtly Ambrose was "famously silent" during his career in the iconic West Indies team of the late 1980s - but he poured his heart out to Hagley sports journalist Richard Sydenham.

It was a big scoop for 41-year-old Mr Sydenham, who recently moved from Cradley Heath to Hagley, and now he has ghost-written the autobiography "Sir Curtly Ambrose Time to Talk" - published in hard back last year and soon to be available in paperback.

The 6ft 7in tall fast bowler used to say he let the "five and a half ounces" - the weight of a cricket ball - do his talking.

So Mr Sydenham, a journalist of 22 years and member of Old Hill Cricket Club, was surprised when the formidable sportsman agreed to tell his life story for the first time after an approach through a mutual friend, former West Indies team mate, Richie Richardson.

"It was surreal that this man, who didn't speak to journalists, was spilling out his life to me," said Mr Sydenham, formerly of Barrs Road, Cradley Heath, who moved to Hagley with his wife, Donna, last year.

"I had to pinch myself several times."

At the height of his career, Sir Curtly was the world's Number One bowler and a thorn in England's side.

"He saved his best for England and Australia and I always admired him," said Mr Sydenham.

"He lives in Antigua and I did some of my interviews with him on Skype and some in St Kitts, where he was a coach in Caribbean premier league.

"Curtly came to my hotel room for two to three hours each day.

"The one aspect that was most surprising was when he talked about how little he knew his father, who left home when he was a baby to work in the Virgin Isles and was a mild alcoholic and gambling addict.

"His mother was the biggest influence on his career. She loved cricket and got him into the sport, although he was really into basketball."

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Sir Curtly also gave Mr Sydenham "chapter and verse" about a notorious incident in Trinidad in 1995, when he nearly came to blows with Australia's Steve Waugh, who had sworn at him on the wicket.

"He would have knocked him out there and then, he was that angry about it, but he was pulled away," said Mr Sydenham, a father of two.

"Curtly's driving thing was pride and he told me that when Steve Waugh swore at him, he didn't have respect.

"But they are good friends now and Steve has written a foreword to the book."

The famous late Australian cricket commentator Richie Benaud also provides a foreword for the autobiography, which temporarily touched the Number One spot in the Amazon cricket book ratings last year.

Mr Sydenham's career is riding high in other directions, after his previous book - about movie star Steve McQueen - landed him a role as consultant producer on the documentary film "The Man & Le Mans".

"I went to a private screening of it at Soho Theatre, London, in May and saw my name on the credits, which was satisfying after helping the makers put the movie together," he said.

Mr Sydenham, who runs the Big Star Creations agency, which manages professional cricketers, won an "Indie Book of the Year" award in 2014 for his authorship of "Steve McQueen: The Cooler King", which marked the 50th anniversary of the release of "The Great Escape" the previous year.

"It was a bit left field for a sports journalist as a subject but I had always been a fan of Steve McQueen's films and I got in touch with everything from co-stars, to directors, make-up artists and hairdressers to get lots of anecdotes," said Mr Sydenham.

"I took a different approach to other books about Steve McQueen, going through what happened film by film.

"He was passionate about motor racing and it was his life's dream to make a film about it.

"But the filming of Le Mans ruined his life, his marriage and his business empire collapsed. Fortunately he came back to make more films to rebuild his reputation and his bank balance."

Mr Sydenham introduced the makers of the documentary "The Man & Le Mans" to contacts he had made while writing the book, including Louise Edlind, a Swedish actress with whom McQueen had one of his many affairs, and Siegfried Rauch, a German actor who co-starred in "Le Mans".

The documentary has been doing the rounds of film festivals and Mr Sydenham suspects it may ultimately be bought up by a TV station.

For his next project he will be returning to another passion of his - Aston Villa.

"I'm fascinated how Villa could go from being European champions in 1982 to relegation five years later - and the nut of the idea of my next book is the rise and fall of Aston Villa's golden era," he said.