- The cricket world mourns West Indies great Garry Sobers.
- Bradman hailed Sobers as the greatest cricketer of all time.
- Sobers retired from Test cricket in 1974.
20th century cricket was full of great players, but by all accounts two stand out head and shoulders above the rest: Australian batsman Donald Bradman and West Indian all-rounder Garry Sobers, who has died aged 89.
“A great innings has come to an end. In our hearts, now and forever, Sir Garfield Sobers,” West Indies Cricket posted on social media on Friday.
In a poll of 100 cricket experts in 1999, Bradman and Sobers were chosen as Wisden’s five cricketers of the 20th century, with the West Indian all-rounder polling 90 votes.
Bradman received an extraordinary 100 votes, and yet, before his own death in 2001, the Don paid the final tribute to Sobers.
“He is, in my opinion, the greatest cricketer of all time,” Don said.
This tribute is based not just on statistics or style – of which Sobers had plenty – but on the breathtaking breadth of his cricketing abilities.
As a batsman, Sobers scored 8,032 runs in his 93 Tests at an average of 57.78, figures which alone would guarantee him a place in any pantheon.
In addition to this, Sobers was a bowler who took 235 wickets at 34.03 runs each.
Sometimes he would open with a quick left-arm spin but, if the pitch broke, he would switch to the left-arm spin – orthodox or wrist spin – which had first brought him to the attention of the West Indian selectors as a teenager.
He was also a lightning fielder, making 109 Test catches, often at slip but, as captain, he placed himself in the danger zone at short leg when he brought Lance Gibbs into the attack.
“This guy could do just about anything on a cricket field except umpire,” Australian Alan Davidson told Cricket Monthly on Sobers’ 80th birthday in 2016.
“He was a complete cricketer, a magnificent fielder, he played all types of bowling, and when he was fit he absolutely decimated big bowling attacks.
“You couldn’t lay a ground for him because he just had this innate ability to be able to score points whenever he wanted.”
“First Promise”
Garfield St Aubrun Sobers, known as Gary and Garry, was born in Bridgetown, Barbados on July 28, 1936, the fifth of six children.
He was only six years old when his father Shamont, a merchant seaman, was killed when his ship CNS Lady Hawkins was hit by two torpedoes launched by a German submarine off the coast of North Carolina.
Sobers showed great early promise in several sports. He made his debut for Barbados against the Indian tourists as a spinner in January 1953, aged just 16.
He played against the MCC tourists a year later and, after just two first-class matches, was selected to replace the ill Alf Valentine for his Test debut against England at Sabina Park in March 1954.
The tourists won by nine wickets, but Sobers made a good impression, dismissing Trevor Bailey in his first over and taking 4-75 in the tourists’ first innings.
Record holder
Four years later, he took another plane to face Pakistan in Kingston, breaking a world record in the process.
Since 1938, Len Hutton’s 364 against Australia at the Oval was the highest individual score in Test cricket. Sobers, in his first Test century, made 365, setting a record that would stand until another West Indian, Brian Lara, made 375 against England in 1994.
In the tied Test at Brisbane in 1960-61, he scored a blistering 132, setting the tone for a memorable series.
“It was absolutely one of the greatest innings I’ve ever seen in my life,” Davidson said.
“He didn’t just beat the field. He split the field. His placement was just incredible.”
Sobers took over from Frank Worrell as West Indies captain for the 1964-65 home series against Australia and led the hosts to their first ever series victory against the Australians.
Results were mixed under his captaincy, which lasted until 1972 when he handed over to Rohan Kanhai, but with Sobers’ hand at the helm, West Indies cricket continued to grow and evolve to become the dominant force of the late 1970s and 1980s.
As Sobers aged his influence on the field diminished, but he still made 254 for the rest of the world at the MCG in 1972 in what Bradman described as “probably the greatest batting exhibition Australia has ever seen”.
Outside of the international stage, Sobers helped South Australia win the Sheffield Shield and played for Nottinghamshire in the English County Championship.
In 1968, against Glamorgan bowler Malcolm Nash, he became the first player to hit six sixes in one over – a feat only matched once since in first-class cricket by Indian all-rounder Ravi Shastri in 1985.
Sobers retired from Test cricket in 1974 and was knighted a year later.
The International Cricket Council honored him in 2004 with the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy as the annual world player of the year, but it is Bradman’s testament that will mark him as one of cricket’s greatest players.
