New Delhi: Sir Garfield Sobers, widely regarded as the greatest allrounder in the history of cricket, passed away at the age of 89 in his Barbados home.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) confirmed the news with a post on X.
“A great innings has come to an end. In our hearts, now and forever, Sir Garfield Sobers,” read the post with the caption within a smiling picture reading – Legend I Icon I Hero.
Born in St Michael, Barbados, on July 28, 1936, Sobers went on to become one of the greatest cricketers to have ever played the game.
A prolific left-handed batter, an equally effective left-arm medium-pacer and left-arm spinner, a brilliant athletic fielder and a sharp close-in catcher – there were few as versatile as Sobers.
He was once described by Sir Donald Bradman, the greatest batsman of all time, as a ‘five-in-one cricketer’.
Sobers made his first-class cricket debut at the age of 16, against the touring Indian team in January 1953. His Test debut for the West Indies came a year later, at the tender age of 17. He went on to dominate the game for 20 long years. In 93 Test matches, he amassed 8,032 runs at an average of 57.78, including 26 centuries. He claimed 235 wickets, and took 109 catches.
Many skillful all-rounders came after him, such as Ian Botham, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan and Richard Hadlee. But none of them could match Sobers’ numbers.
Only South African Jacques Kallis managed to compile a better record than Sobers, compiling 13,289 runs and capturing 292 wickets. However, Kallis played 166 Tests – 73 more than Sobers.
Among Sobers’ greatest achievements was the unbeaten 365 he scored against Pakistan in 1958, which remained a world record till fellow-West Indian Brian Lara erased it in 1994.
In 1968, Sobers became the first player to hit six sixes in a single over in first-class cricket.
He was knighted for his services to cricket, and inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.
