Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers, AO, OCC (born July 28, 1936), also known as Gary or Garry Sobers, is a former cricketer who played for the West Indies between 1954 and 1974. A highly skilled bowler, an aggressive batsman and an excellent fielder, he is widely considered to be cricket’s greatest ever all-rounder and one of the greatest cricketers of all time.
Born in Bridgetown, Barbados, Sobers made his first-class debut for the Barbados cricket team at the age of 16 in 1953, and his Test debut for the West Indies the following year.
Originally playing mainly as a bowler, he was soon promoted in the batting order. Sobers scored his maiden Test century against Pakistan in 1958, progressing to 365 not out and establishing a new record for the highest individual score in an innings.
His record was not broken until Brian Lara scored 375 in 1994. Sobers was made captain of the West Indies in 1965, a role which he would hold until 1972. He would also captain a Rest of the World XI during their 1970 tour of England.
National hero
Overall, Sobers played 93 Tests for the West Indies, scoring 8032 runs at an average of 57.78, and taking 235 wickets at an average of 34.03. He has the fifth highest batting average in Test cricket in the list of cricketers with more than 5,000 runs. In his 383 first-class matches, he scored over 28,000 runs and took over 1000 wickets, having spent time with South Australia and Nottinghamshire towards the end of his career. Sobers was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1975 for his services to cricket. He became a dual Barbadian-Australian citizen through marriage in 1980. By an Act of Parliament in 1998, Sobers was named as one of the ten National Heroes of Barbados.
Largely inspired by new West Indies captain Frank Worrell, who was a close personal friend, Sobers had an outstanding 1960–61 series in Australia.
He scored a celebrated 132 on the first day of the First Test at Brisbane Cricket Ground, the match which resulted in the first Tied Test.
Best hundred
Wisden confirmed that “some observers considered it the best hundred they had ever seen”. Sobers scored 430 runs in the series, which Australia won 2–1, with two centuries; his fielding was outstanding and he took 12 catches. He felt he had “had a good series, starting badly but then coming on” and a very positive outcome for him was to receive an invitation from Don Bradman to play for South Australia in 1961–62.
Sobers gained useful experience by bowling to Wanderers batsmen, including West Indies Test player Denis Atkinson, at practice in the nets and soon developed his great skill as a left arm spin bowler. More importantly for his career, he was observed by Inspector Wilfred Farmer, captain of the Police team in the BCL First Division. Farmer offered Sobers a chance to play for the Police team in the 1951–52 season, while he was still only 15.
In the 1952–53 season, Sobers was invited to the Barbados trials for the colony’s tour match against the Indian touring team at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown. He was initially selected as 12th man but then made the team itself when Frank King was forced to withdraw with an injury.
A full year passed before Sobers, now 17, made his second first-class appearance, again playing against a touring team. He batted at number five against Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), scoring 46 and 27 and took two wickets in the match. He had shown enough talent in these two matches to be selected for West Indies and his third first-class appearance was his Test debut.
Test debut
Sobers had progressed quickly and made his Test debut in March 1954, aged 17, against England at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica for the fifth and final Test, after Alf Valentine had fallen ill. Sobers was selected as a bowler, despite only mediocre performances against England for Barbados.
He made a good impression by taking 4/75 in England’s first innings, including a wicket in his opening over. Sobers also scored 14 not out and 26 batting at number nine; however, England won the match by nine wickets.
Sobers went on his first overseas tour in the early months of 1956 when, aged 19, he was part of the West Indian tour of New Zealand.
The series was not successful personally for Sobers, who struggled on the foreign batting wickets. West Indies pitches had little or no grass to speak of, while in New Zealand the pitches were green.
“I took one look and asked myself how I could possibly bat on that? How could I make runs? I was out before I even walked to the crease,” Sobers later wrote.
Playing in all four Tests, he totalled 81 runs and two wickets. As a batsman, Sobers needed time to develop at Test level and in nine Tests as a teenager, he scored only one half century and averaged 29.33 with the bat.
His success continued in the next two series at home to India in 1961–62 and away to England in 1963. He was elected Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1964 and then succeeded Worrell, who had retired, as West Indies captain for the 1964–65 home series against Australia
West Indies Captain
Sobers enjoyed immediate success as West Indies captain when his team defeated Australia by 179 runs in the First Test at Sabina Park.
West Indies went on to win the series 2–1 and so claim the new Frank Worrell Trophy. This was the first time West Indies had beaten Australia in a Test series.
On August 31, 1968, Sobers became the first batsman ever to hit six sixes in a single over of six consecutive balls in first-class cricket. Sobers hit the first four balls cleanly out of the ground but was caught on his fifth attempt by Roger Davis on the boundary at long-off.
Sobers as “The greatest all-round cricketer the world has seen”. Benaud wrote, “Sobers was a brilliant batsman, splendid fielder, particularly close to the wicket and a bowler of extraordinary skill, whether bowling with the new ball, providing orthodox left-arm spin or over-the-wrist spin”. (TBR)