Garfield Sobers

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Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers, KBE (born July 28, 1936 in Barbados), better known as Garry Sobers (though earlier in his life he preferred the spelling Gary), was a West Indies cricket player. He was born with two extra fingers, one on each hand, which were removed at birth. He also excelled at other sports, and played golf, football, basketball and dominoes for Barbados. He is remembered as one the most exceptional cricketers to ever grace the game.

Related Topics:
KBE - July 28 - 1936 - Barbados - West Indies - Cricket - Sport - Golf - Football - Basketball

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Sobers is best-known for his prowess at cricket. He was a true all-rounder; that is, he both batted and bowled, and was also an outstanding fielder, fielding close to the wicket usually. With the ball, Sobers performed superbly, taking 235 Test wickets at an average of 34.03. He bowled left-arm orthodox spin, left-arm unorthodox spin, and also left-arm fast-medium. Sobers was also exceptionally talented with the bat, as well, with a career Test batting average of 57.78. He scored 8032 runs in his career.

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All-rounder - Batted - Bowled - Fielder - Test - Average - Left-arm orthodox spin - Left-arm unorthodox spin - Fast-medium - Batting average

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Sobers played his first Test match in 1953, aged only 17. Just under five years later, in 1958, Sobers set a Test cricket record by scoring 365 runs in 614 minutes, in a single innings that included 38 fours and interestingly not one six against Pakistan, his first Test century, a record which stood for over 36 years. The record has since been surpassed twice by Brian Lara, also of the West Indies, who scored 375 and 400 not out in 1994 and 2004 respectively, and Matthew Hayden of Australia who scored 380 in 2003. Another record he still holds is that he is the only player to have played under 100 matches, but scored over 8000 runs.

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1953 - 1958 - Test cricket record - Pakistan - Brian Lara - Matthew Hayden - Australia

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In 1968, Sobers became the first batsman to hit six sixes off one over of six consecutive balls in first-class cricket. Sobers was playing as captain of Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan in Swansea; the unfortunate bowler was Malcolm Nash. This feat has been matched once, by Ravi Shastri, playing for Bombay against Baroda in 1984. He played his last test in 1974 against England, at the Trinidad ground

Related Topics:
Batsman - Sixes - Over - First-class cricket - Nottinghamshire - Glamorgan - Swansea - Malcolm Nash - Ravi Shastri - Bombay - Baroda - 1974

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In 1975, Queen Elizabeth awarded Sobers a knighthood for his services to the sport.

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1975 - Queen Elizabeth - Knighthood

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He is the author of a children's novel about cricket, Bonaventure and the Flashing Blade, in which computer analysis helps a university cricket team become unbeatable.

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In 2000, Sobers was named by a 100-member panel of experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century. Sobers received 90 votes out of a possible 100.

Related Topics:
2000 - Wisden Cricketers of the Century

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