Curtly Ambrose he injured his elbow in Sharjah which forced him to miss West Indies' tour of New Zealand which began in December. Ambrose recovered in time to play for the Leeward Island in domestic cricket, taking 31 wickets at 12.03 in seven first-class games. When Zimbabwe toured the West Indies, he returned to the West Indies team to be named man of the match in the first Test—Zimbabwe were bowled out for 63 when chasing 99 runs to win. He took a wicket in the second and final Test, and four wickets in six matches during a three-way ODI series also
Curtly Ambrose suggested that the bowlers were tired and judged the team "outright failures". Following the World Cup, the West Indian selectors chose to rest Ambrose, along with Walsh, from alternate ODI tournaments. Ambrose consequently missed two ODI series, but in October 1999 he played two ODIs in a series against Bangladesh in Dhaka and three in a tournament in Sharjah. In the latter competition, Ambrose conceded five runs from ten overs against Sri Lanka, the second most economical bowling figures from a full allocation of 10 overs in all ODIs. However, in all five matches, he took just one wicket, and