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Garfield Sobers, the graceful West Indian cricketer whose world-record Test innings of ۳۶۵ not out as a ۲۱-year-old set him on the path to becoming arguably the sport’s greatest allrounder, has died. He was ۸۹.
West Indies Cricket announced his death on Friday without providing a cause.
“In the story of cricket, there are great players. There are champions. Then, there are those rare individuals who redefine the very meaning of greatness,” said Kishore Shallow, president of Cricket West Indies.
“Sir Garfield Sobers was the greatest cricketer the world has ever seen. His mastery of batting, bowling and fielding was unparalleled, but his true significance reached far beyond the boundary ropes.”
Born in Bridgetown, Barbados, with an extra finger on each hand, Sobers hit ۲۶ Test centuries and had a Test average of ۵۷.۷۸ from batting that was both elegant and powerful. He was also a versatile bowler, dangerous with both wrist-spin and fast-medium deliveries.
Sobers held a slew of records. His unbeaten ۳۶۵ against Pakistan in ۱۹۵۸ — remarkably his first Test century — was the record score for ۳۶ years, before countryman Brian Lara bettered it. He also was the first player to reach ۸,۰۰۰ runs in test cricket and to hit six sixes in one over in a first-class game, for Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan in English county cricket in ۱۹۶۸.
He achieved all this while maintaining a party lifestyle.
“Well, it’s an exaggeration to say I was partying every night. Just every other,” Sobers told The Guardian newspaper in ۲۰۰۲.
“The night before a Test match, I’d always be out and about all night. Sometimes, I didn’t sleep at all before a big game.”
‘Greatest of all time’
Sobers played ۹۳ Tests for the West Indies from ۱۹۵۴-۷۴, making his debut at age ۱۷ and retiring at ۳۸ with ۸,۰۳۲ runs, ۲۳۵ wickets and ۱۰۹ catches. He captained his country a then-record ۳۹ times. He was the best fielder of his generation, alert at slip with his quick hands.
Wisden rated him as one of the five best cricketers of the ۲۰th century alongside Don Bradman, Jack Hobbs, Viv Richards and Shane Warne. For Bradman — widely recognised as the best cricketer of all time — Sobers was cricket’s greatest allrounder. Queen Elizabeth II knighted him in ۱۹۷۵ for services to cricket.
Bradman had an extraordinary ۱۰۰ votes and yet before his own death in ۲۰۰۱, “the Don” paid the ultimate tribute to Sobers.
“He is, in my opinion, the greatest cricketer of all time,” said Bradman.
Born July ۲۸, ۱۹۳۶, Garfield St Aubrun Sobers was raised in a poor family which lived in a one-story wooden house. One of seven children, he was age five when his father, a merchant seaman, died at sea.
Sobers played golf, football and basketball for Barbados, but devoted himself to cricket, learning the game on the beach with bats made of palm leaves and balls of rolled-up tar.
Within a year of making his first-class debut at ۱۶ and without ever being properly coached, Sobers was playing international cricket — initially as a left-arm slow bowler. He soon became known for his timing as a batter, the variety of his strokes and his ability to excel in all departments of the game.
“He could do anything,” former Australia captain and legendary commentator Richie Benaud said.
It took him ۲۹ Test innings to reach three figures, against Pakistan in Kingston in February ۱۹۵۸. It was in that innings that he went on to become the youngest triple-centurion and then break Len Hutton’s world-record mark of ۳۶۴, which had stood for nearly ۲۰ years.
Sobers was present when Lara broke his record against England in Antigua in April ۱۹۹۴, eventually getting out for ۳۷۵.
“There was a lot of pressure on him, people telling him not to break the record, to preserve it for the legend,” Sobers recalled. “So I spoke to him in the dressing room during his innings and said, ‘Go out and do it, man.’”
Sobers is arguably most famous for smashing six sixes in one over, off of spinner Malcolm Nash in a match at Swansea as Sobers pushed Nottinghamshire towards a declaration. He was caught on the fifth delivery, but the fielder fell back over the boundary.
“Wherever I go [in] any part of the world, everybody mentions the six sixes,” Sobers told the BBC. “You know, it seems as though it’s the only thing I’ve ever done in cricket.”
It made Nash a household name for the wrong reasons.
“I reckon I get asked about it if not once a week then at least once a month,” he said.
Sobers played for South Australia from ۱۹۶۱-۶۴ and for Nottinghamshire from ۱۹۶۸-۷۴. One of his best innings was a ۲۵۴ for a Rest of the World team against Australia in ۱۹۷۲.
He played only one one-day international, and was dismissed for ۰.
Sobers was one of the initial inductees in the ICC’s Hall of Fame in ۲۰۰۹.
Shallow said Sobers “became more than a sporting icon”.
“He became a symbol of Caribbean excellence, resilience, and possibility,” he said. “His achievements brought pride to Barbados, inspiration to the West Indies and admiration from every corner of the cricketing world.
Sobers, Shallow added, “has completed his final innings, but his legacy will forever endure in the hearts of our region, and the story of the cricketing world.”
Cricket world mourns
England Cricket Board also paid tribute on social media, calling Sobers “one of the greatest to ever play the game”.
“Forever in our hearts, Sir Garfield Sobers,” they added.
Former England batsman Geoffrey Boycott praised Sobers, who he said “was like a panther with a purposeful, loping and confident walk”.
“I just loved the way Garry walked out to bat,” Boycott wrote in The Telegraph.
“He didn’t say anything. He did not need to. There was no ego. His walk let the opposition know he was there for business.”
Indian cricket’s governing body, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), paid a fulsome tribute as well.
“The BCCI mourns the passing of Sir Garfield Sobers, a true icon of the game and one of cricket’s greatest-ever all-rounders,” it said.
“His extraordinary achievements, lasting influence on Caribbean cricket and immeasurable contribution to the global game have left an enduring legacy that will continue to inspire generations,” they added and posted a video of Sobers interacting with Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and other Indian players during the tour of the West Indies in ۲۰۲۴.
Sobers was asked in the ۲۰۱۳ Cricinfo readers interview what was so magical about cricket.
“Well, I suppose cricket is a game which you have to be born into to understand the difference and the excitement of it,” he said.
“I don’t think cricket is a game that people who have never played or been involved in understand the excitement.
“It’s a game that is full of excitement, because cricket lovers follow the game and understand the basic principles and rules. They become connoisseurs of the game.”
